For a homesick heart lost in the wilds of Canada, there is nothing more soothing than an all-out crazy, toe-tapping session with two of Australia's most loveable dance bands of the moment: Cut Copy and The Presets. The bands are currently co-headlining around North America, in what some have referred to as the “Down Under Thunder Tour”.

The icing on the cake? They played in Montréal, one of the world's most musically-vibrant cities, for only $AU20. And I was lucky enough to find myself there, among a bunch of other Aussie and Canadian dance music fiends on Saturday night.

Sydney band The Presets opened the evening at Club Soda with a spectacular video and lights display, and an intensely lengthy version of Talk Like That. Julian Hamilton, one half of The Presets duo, wore a fantastic fluoro pink jacket that singularly made my night.

They continued the show with most of their bigger hits, keeping the floor dancing and screaming with favourites like My People, This Boy's in Love and Are You the One. Finishing with I Go Hard, I Go Home, The Presets left a strong impression on the Canadian crowd – most of whom didn't seem all too familiar with the band and loved it just the same.

But it was a different kind of love coming from the Canadians once Cut Copy hit the stage. In the half-hour wait between bands, the crowd swelled significantly in size and the Aussie contingent of the dancefloor was dwarfed by eager locals who knew the lyrics to every Cut Copy song better than we did.

Melbourne's Cut Copy started on a much slower note than expected, given that they were following on from the dancey buzz of The Presets. Tracks like Far Away and feel-good singalong tune Feel the Love kept everyone happy, but made the mood a little slower.

However, after giving us our breath back, Cut Copy increased the volume and beat from there, with tracks like Out There on the Ice and Lights and Music. The band came back onstage with Hearts on Fire for an encore that was so electric it left me, at least, with goosebumps down my spine.

They may have started quietly, but by the end of their nearly two hour set, Cut Copy had feet bouncing, lungs aching and heads spinning at about a million miles per second in a euphoric frenzy that only a really good show can justify.

It's not quite continental domination just yet, but the popularity of Cut Copy and The Presets among our North American friends says a lot about the talent and originality coming from the Australian dance scene at the moment.

Together, the two bands provided just the right combination of lights, music and charisma to make for one crazy night in Montréal.

Photo by Kane Skennar.