Live Review: Mutemath - The Zoo

In a criminally-early timeslot of 8pm, Brisbane's The Cairos warm the early crowd just nicely, not that any warming is overly-necessary – the crowd is already a-buzz, clearly frothing for the forthcoming set from the New Orleans four-piece who are holding court tonight. But the band hold their own incredibly well, playing what is now a familiar bunch of songs, for us Brisbanites at least. Ending their time with the exceptional We All Buy Stars, hopefully everyone not already onboard is converted.

Mutemath make quite the entrance – two dudes carrying mounting fairy lights above their heads while the band take on snare and bass drums – marching band style, emerging from the stairs in the middle of the room and making the bee-line for the stage while the crowd hits the roof in a thunderous applause. Leaping immediately into the title track from the band's third album Odd Soul, it's clear from the word go that this is going to be one seriously amazing show. In fact, aside from the odd inclusion/replacement, the first part of the set is the album in order, which means the excellent Blood Pressure – with glammed up drums and the sexiest bassline this side of Rick James – makes a very early appearance. Regardless, the band has an incredible array of songs to get through, all while throwing every gimmick imaginable at the wall – crowd surfing in an inflatable boat covered in red lights, an absolute buttload of confetti – but that's not to say they can't match all of this with their own larger than life stage presence and jaw-dropping musicianship. Hell, even, the lighting guy has more bounce than most frontmen. Drummer Darren King, in particular, is an animal, sitting stage-right, head down and absolutely going insane for the duration. All Or Nothing is jaw-dropping, tributes flow for Beastie Boys' Adam Yauch and much jocularity is experienced – all in all, a pretty darn amazing show!