Overview
"They look like zombies" my friend astutely pointed out, motioning towards the sweaty crowd in the pit below - slowly swaying backwards and forwards, quietly and quite tamely waiting a few minutes and murmuring "Fluuume" (my friend's interpretation: "fleeesh". Once you hear it, you can't unhear it). Given, the openers were good, but there was no question as to why everyone really was packed in the Logan Campbell for: Flume.
Harley Streten, or 'Flume', the Australian enigma who only released his hit-filled self-titled album late last year (just four days after his 21st birthday), has since conquered the world with his alternative electronic tunes, playing across the States, Europe and Australasia as well as having his music feature in productions across the board, from morning news channels to the latest controversial Roxy ad, as well as garnering international acclaim from the likes of BBC to Pitchfork.
So it was nice to have him back in New Zealand.
I had my reservations of course. Having never seen him live before, I had that fear that most electronic music concert-goers have - hoping namely that it wouldn't just be a live reply of their studio album with a few scratches and crossfades here and there. But not Flume. From the moment he walked on stage and hit the first drum, until the end of the encore, Flume was captivating. The more famous of his songs like 'On Top' and 'Sleepless' had the zombies firmly shaken out of their lethargy with arms, hips and every other body part actively thrusting at 120 bpm. His remix of Disclosure's 'You and Me' also saw many members of the crowd turning into each other to feel and share the love. It was great. Some even ran on stage to try and share the love with Flume. Here is where the commendable efforts of the Logan Campbell security team are mentioned (my friend: "the zombies almost won that time").
Okay, so for the sake of being an unbiased reviewer I'll have to point out that the Infinity Prism prism was a bit of a bust. Not a lot of prism was going on there, but I doubt anyone really cared. Flume's shows after all isn't about interior decorating, or the zombies, it's about the music. And for that Flume gets a solid 9.