Last Saturday, Melting World Festival brought former Nouvelle Vague singer Marina Celeste and Brighton-based four-piece Transformer to the Duke Of York’s cinema.

Performing in her trademark fashion – slow, languid dancing, furiously energetic outbursts, buckets of humour – Celeste was backed by a tight six-piece band. But as good as the band were, and as mesmerising as she is, a half-full cinema auditorium couldn’t reflect back half of what they gave out. They put on a great show though, especially noteworthy the cover of The Dead Kennedys’ Too Drunk To F*** that closed it.

More credit to them for overcoming a sedate, seated audience to do so.

Transformer, better known locally, had no such trouble. Apart from a handful, the returning audience barely sat down.

“This is our first ever seated gig” frontman Johnny Giles declared, “So get up!” Whether it was his demands, or the band’s canny blend of disco and post-punk, those still seated quickly took up the invitation of the wide aisles.

Ending with a lyrical medley including Hot Chip and Dead Or Alive, Transformer lived up to their name, turning a small cinema into a pretty great place to go dancing.