allaussie hip hop

Elefant Traks giant Urthboy, Jane Tyrell and Elgusto (Hermitude) hit Adelaide last weekend, bringing an in your face, energetic live show that had the punters out of control.  Joining Urthboy on The Sneakquel Tour this time round is Melbourne emcee and lyrical magician Mantra. Local lads Mase and Mattic kicked the night off, warming up the crowd early on. It was then on to Koolta who performed tracks of the recently released Deportation EP, both groups were well received by the eager crowd. You could tell that the atmosphere was hyped, a real sense of excitement hung in the air. Locals were anticipating Mantra’s first official appearance in Adelaide and needless to say the ever impressive Urthboy show.

Next up was Mantra, with DJ Wasabi joining him on the ones and twos. Soon Wasabi had the familiar intro to Mantra’s Power Of The Spoken blasting through the speakers. Mantra backed up Power Of The Spoken with the boom bap styled track Perfect Little Island. Mantra soon had the crowd chanting back to his every command before knocking it back a gear with the chilled out Live It Out. Mantra went on to flex his skills on some ‘battle rap shit’ then threw in some nice freestyles for good measure. Other highlights from the set included the track I Wanna Go Home, Flightpath (could have been more prepared for this) and of course the massive tracks I Hereby Stand plus the M-Phazes hit, The Freak Show.

We were quickly wondering how Urthboy could possible top that, little did we know what was in-store. Urthboy burst on to the stage, after a short drinks break, with explosive power. The electronic opener Spitshine soon had Urthboy, Jane and Elgusto kicking into a 3 way b-boy dance that was a good look. It was pretty much hit after hit from that point on. Nuthin’ I’d Rather Do, Shruggin,  Jane and her amazing voice, Hellsong, Ready To Go, Jane and her amazing voice (did we mention that) and Served. The whole time Urthboy was pumping around the stage like a man truly feeling the music, the crowd responding with just as much enthusiasm. We have it on good authority that Urthboy’s energetic live stage show is causing permanent damage to his already injured body, we hope he doesn’t slow it down too much though.

The dynamic that Urthboy, Jane and Elgusto share on stage is something truly special to find, not only in hip hop music but any musical genre. Urthboy has unquestionably cemented his spot amongst the cream of the crop within the Australian music scene, two AMA nominations back that up. The show continued with Elgusto taking the spotlight with a great performance on the beat pad, remixing an old pop favourite. The sirens then sounded as The Gov started shaking to its foundations with the huge bass line of the classic track The Signal. The guys closed out what was a massively enjoyable night with the popular, We Get Around and Over Before It Began, leaving the crowd in awe of Urthboy and the Elefant Traks massive.

Make sure you catch Urthboy and the whole crew including Mantra on The Sneakquel Tour, coming to a town near you. These are the remaining tour dates:

TONIGHT  – Capital, Wagga
Fri 14th May – ANU Bar, Canberra
Sat 15th May – The Factory Theatre, Sydney (Licensed/All-Ages)
Presented by FBi Radio
Thur 20th May – Mona Vale Hotel, Mona Vale
Fri 21st May  The Cambridge, Newcastle
Sat 22nd May – Bizzos, Caringbah
Fri 28th May – Fitzy’s, Loganholme
Sat 29th May – Ripe Festival, Noosa
Fri 4th June – Gearins Hotel, Katoomba
Sat 5th June – Republic Bar, Hobart

Tickets are available online here.

Footage taken from the Adelaide leg of The Sneakquel Tour