(Holla @EMJ / Michael Harvey for this KILLER AS shot of Jupiter Keyes exorcising his inner demons)

I can’t believe my timing on this one. Actually walked in as HEALTH were walking onstage. For real. I’d been warned off Beast Wars – something about ‘Nickelback vocals’. Buy hey, I can’t really make that call. THAT is why I used speech marks. Anyway. I think I’m still in shock from just how incredible this set was. Dripping with bizarre electronic tidal waves and monster machine sounds, I was soooo doubtful as to whether they could emulate their records live. Seriously. They didn’t just emulate the record, they reproduced and obliterated it. Die Slow began with this bizarre 90 second riff jam, before, with a twist of a knob from John Famiglietti, the glitched beat emerged from nowhere, before being swallowed whole by Jake Duzsik’s juggernaut riffs. It was the obvious crowd favourite, and with good reason. But we were treated to so much more. Triceratops literally gave off heat, all of the band joining the wordless vocals between the noise explosions. Pedals, toms, zoothorns were all shared as they maniacally spasmed around onstage (except for prettyboy Famiglietti, whose role seems confined to enigmatic, still power chords and a trancey, swaying dance around his instruments du chanson), tearing through almost every song you’d want to hear (but for the life of me, I cannot remember if we got Glitter Pills). Nice Girls and Before Tigers, despite being two of the more ‘downbeat’ tracks on Get Color, managed to provide two of the most intense moments of the night. Particularly the latter, with BJ Millers frantic floor tom hits creating all kinds of thunder in the air. It was punishing and intense, yet also HEALTH kept everything insanely precise. Nothing was missed. Actually. Nothing. The telepathic pause & crash moments in We Are Water were picture perfect, Death + had its intensity on record multiplied a millionfold, without losing any of its menacing rhythm. Seriously, this has to be one of the most flawlessly intense shows I have seen.

And then, as quickly as they had erupted into this angry frenzy through their blistering set, there was a sudden moment of total bliss as they exited with In Violet, muted and shimmering, as the crowd effectively stood in awe. Oh yeah, crowd was a little quiet – I think I expected a lot more energy from everyone. But, given the spectacle that was HEALTH’s stage presence, everyone can be forgiven for not moshing a little: noone wanted to miss a second of what was occurring onstage for the sake of a little headbanging. The encore was acknowledged, and they returned for two tracks, finishing on Girl Attorney (I may yet stand corrected), which served as a perfect microcosm for the show as a whole: short, precise, a little bizarre, incredibly abrasive, and somehow, as I think about it know, kinda infallible. Think about it: has anyone heard any complaints about this show?All I can think of is that Jupiter Keyes’ murder eyes as he screamed at his tom (see above) gave me nightmares. Even then, I’m not complaining.