One of my most anticipated gigs came and went this weekend, without a doubt living up to it’s potential.

When the Hotcakes boys bought tickets to see Simian Mobile Disco, we were very excited, but our heart rate quickened at the discovery that it was being held at the epicentre of the Birmingham rave scene, Rainbow Warehouse.

But that was nothing compared to the explosive rise in adrenaline levels on finding out that we had inadvertently bought tickets to witness the who’s who of bezzler DJs in support of the duo.

We arrived to catch the end of Young Fathers’ set, who appear on SMD’s new album in the song ‘Turn Up The Dial’. They were quite average, but that is probably because we missed most of the set.

It was Hotcakes’ favourite Riton who really got the crowd going with a fantastic set, remixing great songs including Passion Pit’s ‘The Reeling’ and Major Lazer’s ‘Pon de Floor’. His unique style of manipulating the decks in a flamboyant fashion was hilarious as well.

Then out came James and Jas to a tumultuous welcome that made the small venue seem like a stadium. Everyone was quickly drowned out though by opening song ‘Sleep Deprivation’. The sound in the warehouse was intense, so mind-blowing that hardened gig goers were struggling to stay at the front for the whole set.

The set up of the equipment was uniquely brilliant, with desks put together in a circle where the pair would go round and round tweaking and flicking here and there, all the while gesticulating wildly to the crowd.

I was expecting ‘I Believe’  to dominate the set, but it was without a doubt the crowd rocking ‘Hustler’ that stole the show. The new live version of the song was fantastic, I would love to find a ripped version of it somewhere.

The only disappointment was I was hoping to hear a few more live versions of the songs with all the high profile vocals. They didn’t play ‘Cream Dream’ featuring Gruff Rhys, ‘Bad Blood’ featuring Hot Chip’s Alexis Taylor nor ‘Cruel Intentions’ with Gossip’s Beth Ditto. Shame.

But we didn’t have much time to dwell on that performance because on came after show DJ Kissy Sell-out, who smashed it. It seems like ‘Pon De Floor’ is the song on the lips of every DJ at the moment because he played it as well. It takes an amazing performance to get people to stay once the main act has finished, and he pulled it off.

We didn’t get home until 5am and spent the next hour attempting to find an iPhone app that would cancel out the insane tinnitus pounding through our ears. Rumour has it there is one out there, but we couldn’t find it. My ears are still ringing. Worth it.

Simian Mobile Disco- Hustler