While their early 2000s, guitar band contemporaries have all but vanished - the White Stripes are no more and the Strokes struggling to hit the heights of their early albums - New York art-rock band, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs have proved they can pack the big venues.

They may lack the kind of mainstream hit to propel them to household name status, but in Karen Orzolek - aka Karen O - they have the kind of magnetic front-woman that comes along once or twice in a generation.

Energetically bounding across the stage at the Obelisk Arena on Saturday night clad in a bright yellow leather shorts suit, the enigmatic star's charisma was infectious.

Taking inspiration from the likes of Debbie Harry and Marianne Faithfull, O captured the crowds' attention from the opening note.

The music hurls together rock, garage, electro, ethereal calm and loud, unadulterated noise while always sounding true to the Yeah Yeah Yeahs.

With the crowd in the palm of their hands, O, drummer Brian Chase and guitarist Nick Zinner opened the mind-blowing set with Zero before tearing into Gold Lion and firing through a mix of well-known hits howled back at them by the hyped-up crowd.

It was slick and polished from start to finish with a raw and primal edge, and a sure contender for performance of the festival.

Bringing the show to a climax, the peroxide blonde O rams the microphone into her mouth. It's an assertive and agressive statement but this is the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, after all.

A feverish close to an intense night.