On a cold Saturday night, The Gov drew an impressive crowd for one of the country’s hottest acts at the moment. Like the Finn Brothers or Ladyhawke, New Zealand born Kimbra is an artist who Australia has taken to calling ‘our own’ over the past few years. Having set up a base in Melbourne to record her debut record, as well as establish herself on the live circuit, the 21 year old hits Adelaide up on her massively successful Vows tour, in promotion of the highly anticipated debut record of the same name.

On crowd warm-up duties tonight, first was Adelaide indie six-piece Fire, Santa Rosa, Fire!. With the stage completely taken up by musicians and various instruments, the locals roused the majority of the crowd with some great tunes. Standard indie pop fare, yes, but from the back of the venue where I stood, I could really feel the diversity in percussion sections coming across the strongest. It was clear to tell that these kids haven’t just rolled out of The Exeter or Jive and decided they wanted to start up an indie band for kicks.

The group perform as a tight and cohesive unit, with delicately textured sounds and intense vocals mixing together brilliantly. It was a shame that the vocals were nowhere near properly amplified the whole way through the set, because there were moments when Caitlin Duff exuded some powerful lead and harmony vocals that powered through the sometimes overbearing nature of the bass. Reminding me of such Aussie artists including Bertie Blackman and I Heart Hiroshima, I was impressed by how well F,SR,F! came together to get people up from the floor and ready for a kickass show.

By the time Melbourne’s Husky took to the stage, a different sound tech had taken up his post, and I prayed to whomever that the sound quality would be better. I had my prayer granted. From the moment the five-piece started churning out beautiful acoustic melodies, my ears no longer felt as if they were being assaulted, and the bass wasn’t so heavy it overpowered the rest of the instruments.

Husky are a band who I will admit to not having much knowledge of before tonight. I knew that they were getting a lot of love on Triple J, and that people were generally falling for the dreamy nature of lead vocalist Husky Gawenda; which is fair, because after tonight I must admit I was close to swooning myself. Blending together influences similar to that of acts like Devendra Banhart and Noah and the Whale, these lads produced a dramatic and strongly delivered set. Personal highlights, including "Dark Sea" and "History’s Door", seemed to sit just as well with the rest of the crowd, and the band seemed to really come into their element a few songs into their second ever Adelaide show, which was great to see.

I worked my way closer to the stage for the main act, and from the front I could see just how crammed into the joint people were. It wasn’t long before the lights went down and Kimbra ran onto the stage, dressed in a fabulous pink puffy/frilled dress only she could pull off, and theatrically launched into "Settle Down". Her wails and vocals immediately sent grooves through the crowd, as both band and audience began dancing about to the pumping beats and synths which followed. Since I last saw her perform last year, Kimbra has clearly benefited from all the props she’s gained since; as she jumped about the stage, she performed with such confidence I hadn’t noticed the last time. Although hits including "Good Intent" and "Cameo Lover" resonated well with the punters, particular songs from the Vows album seemed to really take off. "Limbo" and "Love is a Two Way Street" were my personal favourites of the evening, as they showcased the singer’s impressive vocal range and her band’s musicality.

With her Adelaide date completely sold out, much like a lot of the rest of the tour, Kimbra proved that there’s more to her cameo on Gotye’s recent track that shot the both of them up the charts and up into the minds of the commercial music audience. As a live act, she holds her own and is powerful in letting people know that she has enough stamina to keep on going.