Live Review: Half Moon Run, Tigertown, Nova Heart

It's not often the first act of the night has toured five continents without releasing an album. It's also pretty rare for the singer of said band to have sung the theme to a Hollywood blockbuster (The Mummy III) and to hold many prestigious Chinese music awards. Helen Feng ticks all those boxes, and her current project Nova Heart plays innovative electronic indie rock, in which Feng is flanked by a group of seasoned performers not afraid to get weird with the audience.

With a growing fan base after becoming one of the 50 most played artists on triple j Unearthed last year, family band Tigertown looked confident and sang beautifully. Charlie and Crystal's lead vocals were flawless, but even more impressive were the harmonies of bass player Elodie and keys/trumpet dynamo Alexi. Back In Time starts a little like Everybody Wants To Rule The World, but the tempo is quickly upped and signature tune What You Came Here For was an obvious choice for the closer.

Swapping instruments and microphones, Canada's Half Moon Run mesmerised with their minimal but thoughtful folky and slightly electronic tracks, and that voice, holy shit that voice. Devon Portielje has the ability to add pounds of intensity to his lyrics with his unique vocals. His range is equal to the emotional spectrum felt by an audience listening to Half Moon Run. At his absolute best Portelje's high notes and growls provoked grimaces and grunts, assumedly half out of ear pleasure and half out of disbelief. The Montreal masters adored by Mumford & Sons got through most of the tracks from debut album, Dark Eyes, with Call Me In The Afternoon and Full Circle clear crowd favourites. In probably the best encore Sydney has seen this year, the boys turned the electricity off while Portielje sang and played guitar as the band backed him up with harmonies. The audience shushed each other so they could hear, then clapped and stomped at the appropriate times. Half Moon Run is a band bursting with talent and potential, and if you don't know who they are, this time next year you will.