The collaboration between Light Adelaide and Illuminate has delivered on its brief to create an electric, cutting-edge platform for new performers at Live @ The Lab.

The second weekend instalment for The Lab and Illuminate presented Tanzer; a high-glamour, camp ball of energy, and the beautiful and engaging act Tralala Blip. These acts varied in their delivery, engagement and music styles, but both showcased what amazing artists you can experience if you step out of the mainstream lane.

True to her high-glamour camp fantasy vibe, Tanzer bought boundless engaging energy to The Lab with her DJ set on Friday night.

Born in rural New South Wales and moved to Rome as a child before circling back to our Australian shores, Tanzer had always dreamed of being a part of Eurovision, which she had journeyed back to Italy as an adult to enter. Although she did not get the chance to perform on her dream stage, the crowd could immerse itself into our Eurovision-camp-like world in the middle of winter on a July evening at Live @ The Lab series.   

A shiny disco ball of colour, Tanzer engaged with the seemingly small crowd and held the audience on the dancefloor with her audaciously pop-party curated set; every audience member was on the dancefloor alongside Tanzer. Utilising The Lab’s wonderful surround LED screens, Tanzer curated imagery focused on bright colours and hyper-colour flashes of images moving with the music throughout the night.

Saturday night’s five-piece electronic group Tralala Blip from the Northern Rivers in New South Wales worked together to create a symbiotic relationship between their self-composed music and the small but enthusiastic audience.

The band’s distinctive connection with their instruments, performance, and each other, was a delight to watch. The differently abled musicians swap seamlessly through an amalgamation of different vocalists and instruments; their sound is refined and well-developed for a smaller Illuminate act.  It was a pleasure to see that the musicians had so much passion for the art they were creating and, in turn, established so much joy and connection between themselves and the audience.

Tralala was a perfect match for The Lab as they usually perform with a series of videos bouncing in the background curated to work alongside their quirky, synth-wave pop music.

The Live @ The Lab program is open for one more week; I highly recommend you check out the artists. The programming from The Lab and Illuminate is not worth missing out on.  

Friday 28 July – MXG Presents: Joshua Wells & Karina Utomo, House of Vnholy, Messianic Gloss, Baby Monet & Lily Potger, Georgia Oatley & Joe Fuchsen, and Ratboy

Saturday 29 July – Thandi Phoenix