With poise and power, this DJ turned the Music Bowl into an altar of ’90s dance

MUSIC Peggy Gou ★★★★★ Sidney Myer Music Bowl, November 17 South Korean DJ Peggy Gou oozes superstar quality, and on Sunday night she transformed Sidney Myer Music bowl into an electric altar to both music and the past. Peggy Gou performs at Sidney Myer Music Bowl on Sunday night. Credit: Martin Philbey The artist – who during her career has performed across the world including at iconic nightclub Berghain in her now-home of Berlin – opened with an unanticipated intensity that set the stage for a ’90s throwback.

Thwacking, pumping, more beat-driven than her bright, melodic debut album, I Hear You , the opening set jumped between techno heartbeats and frenetic jungle loops, sweeping the crowd into a seemingly endless series of breathtaking, euphoric beat drops. The set evolved, gathering texture: pulsing synth instruments, klaxons, Latin rhythm, Eurodance and numerous house mix favourites, from Masters at Work’s Work to the Morricone-sourced She’s Gone, Dance On and even the opening of Bayside Boys’ Macarena remix. Gou tugged us along with familiar fragments, bumps of nostalgia that made our brains fizz and turned us into a writhing carpet of dancers.



The few album hits she dropped she played like a rock star, pulling back during (It Goes Like) Nanana to hear us chant. Peggy Gou oozers superstar qualities. Credit: Martin Philbey It sounds messy, but Gou curated with characteristic restraint.

The ’90s visual cues showed similar light touch: her name floating in chrome bubble writing, an 8-bit animation, graphics of spinning CDs and Tamagotchis, even a massive confetti drop. It’s her playful, postmodern pastiche that hits our yearning for a golden age of club electronic dance music, the fashions and flashing lights of a decade most of this crowd barely experienced. She carries performances with understated poise and power, loosening her hair before a beat drop, drawing from her mid-set cigarette with effortless chic as she leads us to euphoria.

Reviewed by Kosa Monteith.