Canberra-based rapper Citizen Kay was obviously overjoyed to be opening for Public Enemy. He made the most of his short support slot by performing with infectious enthusiasm. Kay’s drummer James gave his kit a merciless Keith Moon-style battering, with his arms flying around in every direction.
After this excellent start to the night, one of the roadies grabbed the opportunity to turn the sound check into his own half-hour performance, which started out as fun but soon became tedious.
All was forgotten when Public Enemy made their entrance and kicked off with hits like ‘Rebel Without A Pause’ and ‘911 Is A Joke’. Flavor Flav was not wearing his trademark clock around his neck, but it wasn’t long before hip hop’s very own court jester explained that he donated it to the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame after the rap legends were inducted last year.
The gig became a mixture of highs and lows. On the plus side, their setlist was filled with energetically performed timeless classics such as ‘Bring The Noise’, ‘Give It Up’, ‘Black Steel In The Hour Of Chaos’, and ‘Don’t Believe The Hype’. Flav even launched himself into the crowd, stage diving and crowd-surfing during ‘Fight The Power’.
The pace of the gig was up and down. Every time the slower-paced numbers picked up speed, it dropped right back again with a few too many singalongs, shout-outs, and hollahs. But surely you couldn’t go wrong with a genius song like ‘Can’t Truss It?’ Turns out you can – by only playing half of it.
Although Public Enemy mainly consists of frontman Chuck D, “hype-man” Flavor Flav, and DJ Lord, it was a full house on stage. First of all, there was an additional live band that did not add much to the group’s already sample-rich layered backing tracks. Of course, the band’s own military security, the “Security of the First World”, ‘showed us what they got’. These onstage soldiers used to look truly menacing with their (albeit fake) Uzis and shoulder-high kicks, but nowadays, the “S1W” look more like a group of back-up dancers dressed in camouflage-outfits.
The main reason the stage looked chaotic was the continuous presence of multiple crew members, all wandering around with no other purpose than handing Flav the occasional towel and filming the crowd on their smartphones.
After performing ‘He Got Game’, Chuck D explained that hip hop has to be about something, otherwise it is pointless: “F*ck the game if it ain’t sayin’ nothing”. With that in mind, it was mindboggling that Flav was allowed to later perform his solo song ‘Shake Your Booty’ while letting a horde of tipsy female fans shake their behinds on stage. This goes straight against everything this band has always stood for.
One of the key strengths of Public Enemy has always been their mix of Chuck D’s provocative, intelligent raps alongside Flav’s goofy antics to lighten the mood. Crazy Flav has always functioned perfectly as Chuck D’s loyal hype-man. However, what does not work well is giving Flav his own 20-minute solo spot – especially not when he starts thanking just about every single member on his guest list. The artist even made the crowd give it up for the soundman’s brother.
In Public Enemy’s heyday, their radical “minister of information” Professor Griff apparently acted as an uncompromising manager to keep Flav in tow. Right now, the PE could use some strict guidance, especially to control the random, wandering roadies.
As phenomenal as Public Enemy may sound on their albums, at The Metro, these living legends of hip hop proved that putting on a great live show is, to put it in their own words, ‘Harder Than You Think’.
