As a crisp night took hold after the generous heat of the day, there was still warmth to be had at the return of one of Fremantle’s favourite products. So enthusiastically were tickets procured for tonight’s show, in fact, that it had to be moved from the front garden to the more ample surrounds of the south lawn, and you have to wonder if the initial space was ever going to accommodate the headliner’s burgeoning legion of fans.

The rise of local group Methyl Ethel continues unabated and though their slow, meandering tunes are a delight, they’re not the kind of band to rev up a crowd. Their quality, however, is undeniable and tonight they showed enough to surely pique the interest of much of the crowd.

Crooked Colours were more able to generate some movement and energy through a fairly sedate audience, but they were made to work hard. Theirs is a peculiar brand of largely electronic music, it must be said, an unusual combination of synths, guitar and drums that often takes on an industrial tinge. One mostly instrumental piece was eerily reminiscent of the long outro from Thriller, and you could quite easily lay Vincent Price’s particular brand of narration right over the top. A cover of MGMT’s Electric Feel saw spontaneous movement from the crow,d and by set’s end Crooked Colours had succeeded in turning a slow-moving crowd into something far more dynamic.

Entering the stage to James Blake’s Retrograde, San Cisco wasted no time getting down to business, immediately charging forward with their breezy, irresistible pop. There’s absolutely no arguing about the fact that the band has a knack for a melody, and in guitarist Josh Biondillo they have an astute player who colours tracks with some fine solos. The massively successful Awkward was unleashed early and contained subtle changes that showed San Cisco are intent on putting a little distance between that track and the road they’re now on. Chatting eagerly to the crowd and popping occasional digs at bass player Nick Gardner and his recent shooting mishap, Jordi Davieson proved, as he always does, that he’s right at home in front of an audience. His turn with drummer Scarlett Stevens during Super Slow was a neat addition to their live performance, with Stevens removing herself from the back of the stage and putting her diminutive figure front and centre. Tracks from this year’s immensely popular Gracetown added real muscle to their set, none more than the fantastic Snow. Closer, Fred Astaire showed that they’ll probably always be wedded to melodic pop, but there’s no doubt San Cisco have the creativity and intelligence to fashion it into something much more.