Live Review: Citizen Kay, Moon Brain, Mondecreen

"We drove up from Canberra to support our boy, Citizen Kay." The electronic dance act Mondecreen warmed the small, early crowd up with their damn fine set of smooth electronica and MPC beats, saxophone and vocal effects. Continuous party jams at night's end are where these boys belong, not at 8.45pm, but they gave it a red hot go with a hugely enjoyable set.

In their second ever gig, Moon Brain stepped up next. Decidedly less energetic than the prior act, this four-piece from Sydney delivered some moody, dramatic, Morrissey-like tracks with a booming baritone vocal from singer, David Rogers. There's potential here, though it will take some listens on headphones to appreciate the layers in these tracks, but there's definitely something interesting going on with this band.

Kojo Ansah's, aka Citizen Kay's, smiling face and upbeat vibes are what the crowd were pumped to see. His new album Belly Of The Beast again proves the Canberran's form as an artist, but it's his live show that really shows off his chops.

On this, the first show of his headline album tour after having taken a small break after the epic regional Illy tour, Ansah took the opportunity to play some of the new songs live for the first time. While there are some upbeat jams on the disc, like Isn't Love and These Kicks, it's the heavier numbers like Barred and older track Let You Go that helped us appreciate the depth of his writing.

The energy that both Ansah and his drummer, James Ashley, show on stage is the reason their live show is worth watching. Ansah moved and swayed and sang with such genuine passion and love that the crowd were transfixed whether he was stood still or darting back and forth across the stage. Ashley is simply a machine on the drums, even though he had been bed-ridden all day.

Ending with crowd favourites, including Life Gives You Lemons, Citizen Kay finished by mingling with the crowd and truly appreciating his fans. That's what it's all about.