Riding on a high on the back of stamping his way into history via a spot in the famed Triple J Hottest 100 only a day before, young up and coming rapper AllDay led an enthusiastic and on-side crowd through a fun-filled set.
AllDay (Tom Gaynor to his friends), has been busy since arriving in Melbourne a year ago from Adelaide, he met beat maker C1 and the pair promptly recorded A Skateboard Soirée, an EP which spawned the single ‘So Good’.
It was picked up by Triple J Unearthed and received numerous spins over the last couple of months. It was this, combined with an impressive social media campaign headed up solely by AllDay himself, that led to the catchy song snagging the 91st place in the world’s largest music democracy.
Fitzroy’s The Workers Club was the venue for a triumphant gig the day after the Hottest 100, and a few short days after he’d played to a home crowd at the Adelaide Big Day Out.
Joined by Peezo and Sydney’s Jackie Onassis, names perhaps only familiar to a select few, but all of the acts proved to be so friendly, that by the end of the night everyone appeared to be the very best of friends.
Special mention must go to Jackie Onassis, the duo brought the audience a buoyant party mood when it could so easily have been poor, due to a combined Australia Day hangover. There is absolutely no doubt you’ll be hearing and seeing a lot more from this talented pair very soon.
AllDay claimed that the audience was lucky that for this show he was joined onstage by C1, who usually doesn’t do many live shows – providing the beats on all tracks, including those not made by him.
After about half an hour in between acts, AllDay appeared on stage and wasted no time chatting to the eager crowd before launching into a cover, a somewhat lyrically altered version of Watch The Throne hit ‘Niggas in Paris’.
Given the popularity of the song, it’s almost a given that it proved to be well received. The 21-year-old quickly switched to ‘The City’, a cut from A Skateboard Soirée that is a clear highlight by asking, “Who knows this one?”
It proved to be a redundant question as the song proved to be another high point of the evening.
He also paid homage to his new hometown by saying while he wrote the song in and about Adelaide, yet he lives “here now, so this one’s for you guys.”
‘Bright Colours’ from 2011’s 9-track Noue Yesue (pronounced no-way yes-way) was clearly another one that the punters knew, with those up front really losing themselves in the moment, which helped create a fun party-like vibe in the room.
Audience participation was in full flight during the popular ‘Girls In Jeans’ with AllDay instructing everyone to sing the chorus, and they duly obliged, producing some of the best results he’d seen.
The expletive laden ‘Steezed Out’ was a focal point of the set-list with the vast majority of the room singing along to all the naughty words with unabashed enthusiasm.
Throughout the set AllDay often said that he was feeling good but wasn’t yet feeling “so good”, a clear reference to his most well known song. The reference earned a loud cheer from the crowd, who knew how to play their part.
Unsurprisingly he closed with ‘So Good’ and it proved to get the best reaction of the entire evening, punctuating an energetic, fun set and summed up his performance and the night in general.
During the set AllDay would quite often cut from track to track without finishing, which at times meant a song people were enjoying didn’t get its full run, however it did prevent the 45-minute set having any lulls, keeping a frenetic pace.
AllDay and the supports hung around signing posters and taking photos with the many fans that lingered post-show, which clearly pleased them, none of whom could argue they hadn’t got their moderate entrance fee in value many times over.
