Hordern Pavilion, Sydney
Friday May 11, 2018 :
It was party central at the Hordern for Aussie electronic duo Peking Duk. Made up of DJ/Producer combo Adam Hyde (bass, vocals, DJ) and Reuben Styles (guitar, vocals, DJ), the Aria award winning electro-house/dance outfit played a packed out Hordern Pavilion in their Sydney home town, on the tail end of their national ‘Wasted’ tour.
The energy was high from the get-go with a super pumped-up crowd of mainly 20-somethings packing out the iconic venue, and after the classic Duk style short film clip intro on the big screen, the crisp disco-white clad duo burst on to the stage. Chaos ensued! First song was the latest single ‘Wasted’ and the scene was set for a brilliant night. Enter Ben from fellow Canberra band Safia featuring his stunning vocals on ‘Say my name’ followed by crowd fave ‘Let you down’ featuring Michaela Baranov, who performed alongside for several songs of the night.
The visuals were superbly done, and a platform in front of the turntables meant they could stalk the stage at various times during the set – it looked like they were on the turntables. A psychedelic light show topped it off for an audio visual feast. ‘Fake Magic’ had the entire place jumping around & sharing sweat, by this time the Horndern’s floor was becoming a slippery booze soaked dance floor. Mid set the boys amped up the psychedelic light show and jumped on the turntables for an amazing DJ set, which happened to include a bit of a Black Sabbath tribute, ‘Killer’ & then followed by a little Titanic moment – well the crowd needed to take a breath!
Back came the energy lift with brand new single ‘Fire’ featuring some pretty awesome pyrotechnics – this was the first time they had played the song ever and the crown lapped it up. A cool White Stripes tribute followed with ‘Seven Nation Army’ and a little audience participation with the entire crowd being made to sit down… then out blasted the human eruption of dancing and singalong with ‘High’.
An acoustic guitar lead in by Reuben to ‘Take me Over’ was a cool change up, then the boys introduced two punters Luke & Emma, and Luke proceeded to make a marriage proposal. Of course she said yes, and the final song of the night which fitted the moment was ‘Stranger’ (never gonna sleep alone), complete with confetti blast to farewell the adoring crowd. We all left very danced-out and sweaty, with smiles on faces. What a night.
Reviewer : Caitlin Martin
Photographer : Joshua South
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