Pendulum, Ekko & Sidetrack @ Entertainment Centre Theatre, Adelaide 10/3/2026
“You were the engine of my life, the metronome of my day. You set the pulse and everything and everyone moved to it” – Sue Perkins, An Open Letter…
More than a score years ago, I was first introduced to PENDULUM. An INBOUND house party in 2004, RUKUS set the scene: unlocking a Vault unknowingly kept secret through many years, happenstance sent a sidetracked Voyager on a somewhat different journey.
One that never quite ended, an era that spoke Louder Than Words, a mere dalliance into Drum & Bass proved an Endless Gaze. Tumbling end-on-end in a Spiral, Colourfast in a constant state of INERTIA, the first exposure cemented, it was never just music; this was a way of life.
Incorporating other genres seamlessly, it wasn’t a true deviation from the heavy music that still captures my soul. Demonstrable in tonight’s crowd, who don as many edm artists’ merch as HEADWRECK jerseys, ERRA tees and SLEEP TOKEN hoodies, none understood that better than the multi-instrumentalists out of Perth.
Australia’s breakthrough act two decades ago, with the release of their fourth album they undoubtedly still reign as the patriarchs of our country’s contribution today. Ending the nationwide headline tour in the first home of Australian DnB, Adelaide, Pendulum relive the past, while asserting their relevance in the future.
Brothers Jeff & Jonathan Hansen, aka EKKO & SIDETRACK, open the final show with No Problem, Under Bright Lights. Pressure building amongst the sold out Tuesday night crowd, successive visits by the biggest names in the scene for the Fringe, including, for the first time ever, SUB FOCUS, and their massive weekday audiences attest: there’s still plenty of Fire In (O)ur Eyes.
Only ten minutes into the opening set, with, as yet, ample room on the dancefloor for movement, beats bounce around the AEC Theatre like a CHEMICAL superstorm. A pair of Sub classics Lift Me Off The Ground, Ekko and I Synchronise beer sips; the duo switching emcee duties to beg Dance For Me before getting Klinical. Paper Birds take full flight, as even the most Underloved hearts in the room swell.
Industrial blasts and blue smoke give way to Napalm red and x-ray strobes as the main act takes the stage. The 90s metal band members metamorphosing over the last thirty years into a formidable live dance outfit, they Save the Cat and set fire to Propane Nightmares.
As we and the night Come Alive, Pendulum’s founding lead singer, Rob Swire, pauses for bassist Gareth McGrillen’s demands. Crank the circlepit and peak our Blood Sugar, the band’s infamous remix of THE PRODIGY’s epic, Voodoo People, ignites memories of V FESTIVAL in Donington Park 2008, when the king Keith Flint (R.I.P.) credited our Aussie boy’s rendition as the supreme edit.
Hard as Granite, lupine as a Cannibal, Pendulum are testament to the age old adage: you don’t get Nothing For Free in this life, so take every one of your opportunities, whether presented at dusk and Dawn. Life waits for no man and there’s no Intermission; the time is now.
The strike of ten beckons, but for everyone who “grew up in the 90s”, it’s 7pm again everywhere, and time for the ABC News; when good girls and boys know it’s time to rearrange the Halo and become an Arkangel, if only for a half hour more.
Hands raised unanimously without wands, an act of Witchcraft is performed by the crowd and the headliners. Warning each and everyone to Fasten Your Seatbelts, even as we creep closer to the end, beware and be prepared for a final love bite.
Delicate as Watercolour, visceral as a Tarantula sting, this is our heartbeat, this is their song. Now as ever, the pulse of the metronome, this was purely Pendulum.
Live Review By Belinda Quick