Live Review: Purity Ring

The house lights dimmed and Purity Ring entered under a haze of smoke to a hearty round of cheers and applause. The stage lights lit up in time with the electronic drums in Stranger Than Earth, with Megan James hiding among the hanging lights and Corin Roddick taking his place behind the decks. It was all a bit mysterious, hooking the audience in from the get-go.

James emerged from the curtains of lights to perform Repetition and welcome us, genuinely amazed at the beauty of this iconic venue and dedicating Push Pull to Australia, because we seemed to like it.

The whole show was a sensory overload, from the smoky haze to the amazing light show that featured strobe lights in perfect synchronisation with their glitchy tunes, to James' dress and hair being swept away by a wind machine. But don't be fooled, this wasn't all just smoke and mirrors; James' piercing vocals mesmerised the audience and was balanced perfectly with the accompaniment. The whole scene verged on disorientating, but in the most spectacular way, making it addictive and impossible to draw your eyes away.

Mid set, James invited us all to stand because it was about to turn up, and to her word they played hard-hitting tracks Sea Castle, Dust Hymn and set highlight Flood On The Floor, which really let James' vocal range shine as she writhed and twisted her body across the stage, encouraging some audience members to dance.

Cheers ensued for crowd favourite Fineshrine and, at its close, James announced that they they don't do encores (you could almost hear the audience's disappointed sigh), and that they had one song left so she was going to take off her shoes to dance. Of course this was Begin Again, which was the perfect end to the world class experience that is a Purity Ring show.