Report from Festival Hall April 1st 2015
One year ago, Australian hip-hop fans were frothing at the mouth when the rhyme spitting hydra Jurassic 5 made it to our shores after getting back together after a six year hiatus. It was never really explained why they split with the official word citing ‘musical differences’ and was especially surprising for anyone who saw them play at the 2007 Good Vibrations festival alongside Snoop Dogg and Beastie Boys. That appearance showcased a group who typified hip hop at its best and raised the bar to an almost insurmountable level so the those ‘differences’ must have been pretty damn strong to destroy such a force.
When talking about hip hop and its steady domination of the worldwide airwaves, there’d be a huge black hole in your history if you didn’t mention the name Jurassic 5. Even if you’re not aware of their seminal self-titled release in 1998 and their equally brilliant 2000 follow-up ‘Quality Control’, chances are you’ve at least got taste enough to know their masterpiece ‘What’s Golden’. That track seeped its way out of the streets of LA and across time zones bringing the group to a near godly status.
OK, so this is a live review and not a dissection of the band’s career but if you don’t have some understanding of their importance then the feeling that gripped me as I strolled into Festival Hall’s resonant chamber just won’t make sense.
It was utter surprise that took hold of my brain as I scanned the pretty pitiful crowd scattered around the room and how easily people were strolling in and out of the stage front. The almost hundred dollar price tag on the night might explain the lack of bodies or maybe the Wednesday night slot but the venue looked like it was about a third of its capacity. It was a damn shame because y’all missed a helluva show.
DJs Cut Chemist and Nu-Mark were first to take their places at the helms of their control zones on a stage dominated by huge turntable between the two beat masters. Then as the drum, bass and scratches filled the room, one by one the masters of rhyme entered the stage starting with Zaakir and finishing with miniature stature of Akil.
They blazed through the set chopping songs together seamlessly from their two decade long career in a way that didn’t feel forced like other rappers do with their hit tunes. Old heads were satisfied with little known tracks from their early career as the crew peppered hits like ‘Concrete Schoolyard’ and ‘Quality Control’ throughout the night.
The MCs took a break in the middle of the set to let their DJs shine with their mind bending toys which included a vinyl scratcher mounted onto something akin to a guitar body. Cut Chemist took centre stage with the ‘scratch-tar’ building a storm of sound with his usual nonchalant expression while Nu-Mark built beats with a trigger buttons mounted on a necklace of vinyls and CDs. The DJ set finished with the duo taking turns to scratch on the ridiculously big turntable before Zaakir and Mark 7even returned with their verses from ‘High Fidelity’.
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Akil inspired the crowd with his introduction to ‘Freedom’ asking them to raise their fists into the air to symbolise their sense of freedom. It sounds silly but there was something truly inspirational about it as egged the crowd to be their true free selves and not let anyone affect your choices in life.
The towering physique of Charli 2na dominated the stage as he rampaged around like a robotic tyrannosaurus. Every time he stepped up to the mic, a roar rose in the crowd showing him to be the popular hero in the group.
The group’s encore was enough to be its own show starting with ‘If You Only Knew’ and then running into crowd requests resulting in airings of ‘Thin Line’ and ‘Remember His Name’. While predictable, closing on ‘What’s Golden’ was the pinnacle of the night bringing back feelings of being a youngster and cruising around the streets with MCs voices blaring from your Discman.
After the show, 2na made a show of true appreciation of his fans taking time to sign every autograph and pose for every photo wanted while taking the time to have a puff of a joint floating around the crowd. It’s not something you see often from a group of their status and goes to show just how much of their lyrics are true to the nature of the writers.
Describing the show as inspirational and soul cleansing goes a short way to the feeling that was going through the crowd as they gulped their first quick excited breaths of fresh air. If you’re one of the people that decided the show wasn’t worth the cost or sleep deprivation then hope you’ll get another chance to see the maestros in action.
