Live Review: Listen Out

Queensland has turned it on today with Brisbane all sunny and buff for the first Listen Out in the city, and the final one for 2013. Rüfüs are the first big ticket act on the bill, and for the punters streaming through the front gates it provides the perfect afternoon soundtrack for a few cheeky cocktails to open the account. Fronting on the main Atari Stage, the Sydney trio are relishing their current status as one of Australia's hottest young groups, running through the majority of their recent debut chart-topper, Atlas. Modest Life, Sundream and Rendezvous make the banks of the Brisbane river feel like the beachside sand of Café del Mar. An acoustic guitar appears on the shoulder of Tyrone Lindqvist to what seems like no effect, but the drumming holds many a groove and all the synths feel like they have soul. Tonight leaps from the speakers before a pixie-haired vocalist appears for late banger Unforgiven, and with its fluid steel drum samples Take Me generates one of the biggest responses of the set. Closing out with Desert Night, even the clammy face-chewers to our right are reaching out to show the domestic product some love.

OP Thomas Prime and Charlie Hustle are in party starter mode on the Red Bull Crate Diggers Stage, playing to a transitioning crowd offering brief shuffles and a few hands in the air, but more people seem to be interested in what Miguel Campbell is throwing out back at the Atari Stage. The Leeds-based producer starts off funky and deep but soon has found his groove with some French-styled electro that's a welcomed spike in the intensity levels. Smoke billows out of various stage corners and you remember you're in the hustle and bustle of the city, before Campbell gets a little futurist, with some Daft Punk-esque vocoder-led jams featuring drifting synths and a stuttering rhythm. He then gets full-blown ravey towards the end before Classixx deliver a jolt to the system with their roughhoused cords. The volume levels are questionable early, as in 'Turn it down sound guy, what the hell is wrong with you?', but soon everyone has found their groove, with the LA pair giving us nice atmospheric beats for a little dance on dusk.

After a brief walk under the Wheel of Brisbane and along the garden path, we find the lush alcove housing the 909 Stage, and with a small natural amphitheatre rolling down we greet AlunaGeorge at the bottom in live quartet mode. Everyone seems to have found their nicotine urge – we can only assume the reasons why – but the smoke takes nothing away from the sexy sounds of You Know You Like It, with Aluna Francis in full vixen mode, prowling the stage like it's her own personal catwalk. A cover of Montell Jordan's This Is How We Do It is class, especially for the older contingent (represent!), while Attracting Flies does everything it needs to do, with the awkward intro seeing the crowd propel forward on cue for a sway and a smile. George Reid and his other two lad partners then get double time for Lost & Found and everyone is reacting well to the ride, none more so than Francis who is bouncing, kicking and throwing down crossovers – it's mesmerising. They offer up their spin on Disclosure's White Noise that still feels individual though it doesn't stray too much from the formula, before Your Drums, Your Love concludes a premium display.

And then it's Azealia Banks. Will she spit venom at the front rows? Will she drop the mic and storm off mid-set? Where will the drama come from, because there's going to be drama, right? Nah, just the highlight set of the day, with a minimal amount of bullshit from all parties concerned. Banks cuts between a male and female dancer in matching outfits, while brightly coloured 8-bit graphics flash wildly behind her beat man at the rear. Atlantis kicks things out with fire, Banks ferocious on the microphone, and with the crowd getting behind the New Yorker rather than riling against her like our southern counterparts, it's the love-in that everyone was hoping for but no one expected. Fierce from the Fantasea mixtape lands hot and hard, as does 1991, the set playing out as a rapid-fire collection of short, sharp dance/rap barbs that claw at your ears and eyes. Jumanji is a sonic rampage with verbal crossfire, and the response sees Banks showing Brisbane plenty of love after the “rough arse time” she's had this tour. She twirls her untamed hair as she fucks the consequences by throwing out her version of Harlem Shake, complete with Born Slippy intro. Luxury then kicks over into the incredible beat of Liquorice before Young Rapunxel a cappelas into 212 and the Brisbane skyline shakes violently.

“What's up guys, I'm Duke Dumont, let's go.” And he does. Briefly. Because after he opens with big jam Need U (100%) his mixer packs it in. Such drama would floor a lesser man, but the Duke is cool, calm and collected, and after some flurrying on the Atari Stage he's back to his versatile best. Things get progressively deeper and deeper, with many heads nodding in approval, before Street Walker absolutely floors the assembled mass, the stabby beat and distorted vocal line making everything before it almost redundant. The Brit then rounds things out with his remix of Haim's Falling, but it's an anticlimax after the monster we just stomped to.

Then with the two smaller stages shutting up for the night, the whole festival arrives at the front of the main stage for British wunderkinds Disclosure. Two podiums of tech stand in front of us, machines ready to do we don't know what. A strobe freakout then paints a black and white backdrop for the brothers Lawrence to arrive and get down on it. F For You is just the vibe we're wanting – future house with a post-dub edge that harks back to the '90s without giving one fuck about that decade – before When A Fire Starts To Burn turns the night upside down; it's a dance sermon that's causing everyone to rejoice. The boys are doing things proudly live these days, singing many of the vocal hooks, playing bass lines on a four-string, adding the percussion on electronic pads, all the while triggering the myriad of beats and sounds without ever seeming overwhelmed. Unfortunately, it feels like some punters are waiting for the singles – more a knock on their attention span rather than Disclosure doing anything wrong – but the boys have the medicine with You & Me, Stimulation and White Noise, which features a welcome return turn from the forever sassy Aluna Francis. Soon after, the now-iconic Disclosure sketched faces start shaking, signalling our time is almost up, before the wind down of Confess To Me is drawn out into a barnstorming version of instant classic, Latch. The guys have killed it, yet still remain so humble, and after extending the track out just nicely, they sign off an absolute belter of a day.