It was a night full of dance-rock and euphoria as Sydney’s Tom Ugly and Norway’s Datarock played to the smallest crowd I have ever seen at the Metro Theatre (they even closed off the upper bar area). There were about 40 or so people in the main area to witness Tom Ugly and once Datarock took to the stage the crowd could have only filled up three-quarters of the dance floor; everyone else must have still been sleeping off their new year’s hangovers – they missed out on a great concert.

Only two of the four members of Tom Ugly were present but that sufficed as Tom Ugly demonstrated his multi-talents by taking over drum and vocal duties (and there sure was some excellent drumming!) The boys from Tom Ugly proved an effective and appropriate support band as they provided us with a nice musical backdrop whilst most people in the main room sat down to relax and enjoy both the music and the air-conditioning.

All of the few songs performed were impressive and definitely deserving of more attention than they seemed to receive. Popular closer ‘Cult Romance’ saw a few of the few members of the audience lighting up to have a bit of a dance as Tom Ugly vacated the stage for Datarock.

Red flooded the stage as the Norwegian’s ran out in their signature outfits (which sold out at the merchandise stand!) and the audience immediately jumped for joy as you could tell that Datarock boasted some extremely dedicated and loving fans in Australia which was great to see.

First up was a string of tracks from their latest offering ‘Red,’ and the boys translated their tunes wonderfully live as the very catchy, very call-and-response-y, ‘Give It Up’ opened the set with a bang. Next up was the effective Talking Heads tribute ‘True Stories’ which bored me a bit to be honest but seemed to be highly engaging for the rest of the crowd.

The crowd interaction from frontman Fredrik Saroea irritated at times and sounded more like a parody of an over-excited rock star than anything else but did show how much these boys are excited to play to us Aussies again.

Their first album was not at all neglected though as towards the end the band delivered us those tunes their fans know and love, in succession, as ‘Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa,’ ‘Computer Camp Love’ and ‘I Used To Dance With My Daddy’ (data)rocked the metro and inspired massive dance-offs.

An encore was craved by the crowd as Datarock feigned their goodbyes only to come back and give us an old classic in ‘Ugly Primadonna’ followed by a surprising moment when the boys played ‘(I’ve Had) The Time of My Life’ by Bill Medley and Jennifer Warnes (the track from Dirty Dancing) which filled the crowd with joy and party fever; Ketil Mosnes even joined the crowd with his saxophone, much to the delight of everyone in that room.

Smiles were widespread that night as Datarock left the stage, no doubt comfortable in knowing that they definitely gave us our money’s worth. I doubted them at the beginning of the gig because of their Field Day performance, but they sure proved me wrong along with their excellent support.

Set List:
Give It Up
True Stories (Talking Heads Tribute)
Dance!
Night Flight to Uranus
Sex Me Up
Amarillion
The Pretender
Back in the 70s
Fa fa fa fa
Computer Camp Love
I used to Dance with my Daddy

Encore:
Ugly Primadonna
(I've Had) The Time Of My Life (Patrick Swayze Tribute)