Toronto – Man, Simian Mobile Disco was awesome live. It’s amazing to see what two men, a bunch of knobs, some wires and some thing-a-mi-jigs can produce. On Friday night, Simian Mobile Disco were in town to promote their second album Temporary Pleasure. James Ford and Jas Shaw didn’t even take the stage til around 12:30. Luckily for them, the Phenomenal Handclap band had nicely warmed up the crowd and by the time the light dimmed, everyone was really ready to dance.
Lets talk about the stage setup first, after witnessing the Presets blistering light show in April, I was expecting something along the same lines. There were basically five columns of lights surround the two men and yeah, they pretty much just blitzed your senses into submission throughout the show. I think I’m adding ‘good electronic act with crazy light show’ to my must see concert lists. It’s that awesome. Barney would approve.
As for the music…well, the thing is..for these shows, how good the concert is depends on how much you dance to the songs they play. I danced a lot, and so did everyone around me. I would venture to say not one soul in the crowd was standing still. All the popular songs were played including Hustler, It’s the Beat, Audacity of Huge, Cruel Intentions and of course, their standout track I Believe for an encore. I absolutely love that song. It was a great way to round out their 90 minute set.
I highly recommend you check them out, unless you are prone to seizures. Then maybe put on some sort of vision blocking contraption and go anyways.