Live Review: Disclosure, Hayden James

It's up to Hayden James to set tonight's mood and that he does. Granted, he occasionally plays some live percussion to add sonic texture, but there's still not quite enough happening up there to direct your gaze toward the stage.  

Au contraire with Disclosure, who hit the stage running with White Noise and immediately utilise live instrumentation via percussion (Guy Lawrence) and bass (his little bro, Howard, who was once told by Sting that he's "a good bass player" — he tells us). Howard then exhibits those soulful vocals thanks to F For You. At least the lads only claim Melbourne is "one of" their favourite Australian cities instead of insisting every city they play in comes in at number one in their eyes. "We came here to party," Guy insists, but then we enter into a slower, swinging number more suited to the day after the party. The pace Disclosure set tonight is slower to kick in than what we've experienced from the duo on previous tours and there are many punters in the stands who are on the chat (and our eavesdropping proves it's not about the show). What follows can only be described as a lull. But then it's truly bangin' when they drop Bang That ("I wanna see you shake it!"). Now we're talkin'! Then we enter the rave cave and no one's complaining, even When A Fire Starts To Burn (thanks to their scorching favourite). Awesome guest vocalist Lion Babe's Jillian Hervey presents the freshest of moves, glistening up there onstage and further extracting the mayhem.  

For their encore, Disclosure bring out another splendid guest vocalist: Brendan Reilly. Our jaws drop. His voice throughout Moving Mountains is magnificent! Remember his name. And then the beat drops and it's time to grind. The Lawrence brothers then tease us with a segment of the "DUH-duh!" sample from Latch and we all holler our appreciation. Yep, they had better play it in full. The audience's singing swamps out the song's intro into their closer, Latch. "NOW I've got you in my space/I WON'T let go of you!" - choon! It's all hands in the air and blissful smiles on off-chops dials.   

Disclosure are funky little fuckers, but we're more fully immersed when they drop their proper club bangers. Even still, the brothers bring demolition to this Wednesday night dancefloor. "We've been Disclosure, you've been amazing," Guy concludes. No, thank you!