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LUPE FIASCO LIVE REVIEW
01.03.10Thebarton Theatre Thu Feb 25
Words: Shane Scott
Picture: Aaron Schintler
Arriving to Lupe I was unsure on the size of the crowd that would attend mid-week for an artist (Triple J aside) that doesn’t get much mainstream love. Crowd numbers was always going to be a tough ask.
Walking in, there was a decent sized crowd milling already and my hopes lifted, more importantly my head began to slam in appreciation of the opening act Diafrix who had already hit the stage. The guys are one of the best kept secrets in the country, one of the best live acts I’ve seen in recent memory and with a live set (that although none of the crowd knew the tracks) had the whole audience rocking with them start to end. I’ll admit I’ve slept on them myself, a mistake I will not be making again.
Following Diafrix was a hard task, especially for an act as horrible live as Phrase has become. The best thing that can be said for Phrase is that he looks like Peter Garrett these days, the rest of his set is best left unspoken. Thankfully things picked up and the now near full room lapped up the fantastic set from Lowrider. The only gripe is that the set is starting to get a little dated, this was put at ease though with information the new album is just about ready to drop. Bring that shit on.
Lupe Fiasco hit the stage with a bang, although with largely no crowd interaction until the very end. He didn’t just stand there and rap though, he flat out performed for over an hour. Covering a lot of the new material with a really solid crowd reaction as well as all the big hits. It was fantastic to hear Hip Hop Saved Me on that huge system with a massive crowd rapping along. Lupe tore back and forth across the stage and interacted brilliantly with his drummer and guitarist. This was a far better performance than the Big Day Out in 2009 and definitely restored my faith in big name US acts delivering fantastic performances.
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1 comment
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From Heywood Jablomi 12.42pm 03.03.10
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I beg to differ on this one, Shane. For me, the Lupe show was a 50/50 affair. Part of this comes from the fact that there was too much mid-range in the PA; this created a blanket effect at times which SERIOUSLY detracted from the sound quality. What's more, I could not believe that Lupe was giving the heads his back when they were going apeshit, as if we were not even there. This ain't a fuckin' jam yo. When the crowd did get acknowledged, the mention of t-shirts in the lobby just about made me choke on my aprehension. And then there's the new stuff; 50/50 again. I mean, if going down the road to Linkin Park style riffs is what Lupe wants as an artist, then that's cool, but I'm going on the record as saying I think we can expect to hear the new album being played by Shazzas in Excels. R.I.P credibility? I pray the fuck not!