It was an Australian electronic spectacular on Friday at the 9:30 Club, with Melbourne’s Cut Copy and Sydney’s The Presets taking the stage, along with Heartbreak from London. The crowd was sold out and in a dancing mood, and the bands served them well.

The Presets, a duo, had probably the best sound set-up we’ve ever experienced, with crisp vocals, loud instruments and samples, and booming bass that could make your hair shake even when standing at the bar. It was loud but never painful, a nice respite from those shows that make you wince.

The band, made up of Julian Hamilton and Kim Moyes, were not the usual knob-twisters, with Hamilton dancing from keyboard to microphone in a pink jacket. The light show amplified the giant dance club effect, and the crowd ate it up. Musically, the band plays somewhat sinister-sounding electronica with hints of industrial, such as “This Boy’s in Love” from the fittingly named new album Apocalypso. Hamilton sings with vaguely 80s-goth vocals and there’s a lot of call and response — “My People,” for one, got the crowd pogoing and yelling along. Hamilton’s vocals are a little affected, but it works with the music. Unfortunately, they band didn’t play “Girl and the Sea” from their first album, Beams, which brought down the house last time we saw them at the Rock and Roll Hotel.