Review:

Passers-By on Flinders Street on Saturday night could have been forgiven for thinking the Forum was hosting a casting call for a period film set in the mid-'80s as hundreds of twentysomething hipsters milled about outside the venue in oversized T-shirts and tight jeans, flicking long fringes out of their eyes. The girls were also kitted out in retro fashion.

But it wasn't a remake of a John Hughes film, it was the weekend's hottest gig in town: electro-rockers the Presets playing the first of their two sold-out weekend shows.

The Sydney-based duo have had a faithful following since the release of their 2005 debut album Beams, but their recent second album, Apocalypso, debuted at number one and has catapulted them to a new level of fame, vividly demonstrated by the ecstatic capacity crowd jammed into the Forum.

Kim Moyes and Julian Hamilton bounced on stage, drummer Moyes in a suitably retro sweatshirt and singer Hamilton resplendent in a hot pink, Pet Shot Boys-esque jacket. They were met with rapturous applause, before cranking out a fast-paced set of songs from both their albums. Songs from Apocalypso, including Kicking and Screaming, Talk Like That and Yippiyo-ay, were winners with the wildly appreciative crowd.

Their cranking, hard-edged electro, infused with '80s synth-pop and Hamilton's droning vocals, define the Presets' sound as very much in the nu-electro genre, but Saturday night's crowd reaction - the band drowned out by fans singing along to every word and the mosh pit-like atmosphere at the front of the stage - almost saw them slide into stadium rocker territory.

Finishing their set with the rousing My People, the poor old Forum floor creaking under the weight of dancing, Moyes triumphantly threw his drumstick into the crowd - something you certainly don't expect at an electro gig.

For their encore, the pair amped things up further with lasers and lights, and they brought the frenetic crowd to a climax with a kicking version of I Go Hard, I Go Home from their first album.

The sated crowd had definitely gone hard, but they showed no signs of going home.