Live Photos: Stereolab - Hollywood Cinema, Auckland

Stereolab sprawled across the stage at Avondale's Hollywood Cinema with a jumble of synths, drums and guitars last night, and treated the crowd to tunes from across their kaleidoscopic back catalogue. A live rhythmic juggernaut, it was awesome to experience the English-French avant-pop "groop" bust out intricate locked-grooves you'd rarely encounter outside of club contexts, on classics 'Metronomic Underground' and 'Percolator', likewise Stereolab's willingness to take the audience into extended noisy abstract territory and singer / guitarist / keyboardist Lætitia Sadier's casual aversion to showbiz banter was a hugely refreshing change of pace. The band's crisp delivery was marred in spots by some piercing feedback-like tones (seemingly emanating from a rogue small red keyboard), causing wincing among attendees, but Stereolab's radical, era-defying retro-futurism was as urgent and danceable as ever on motorik bangers 'French Disko', 'Ping Pong' and 'Miss Modular'. Connor Crawford was front and centre to document Stereolab's long-awaited return to Aotearoa (they wrap up their two date NZ tour in Wellington tonight) – dive into a gallery of his snaps by clicking on the thumbnail images below...