Aussie hip-hop collective, The Herd, hit Melbourne town in support of their latest LP, Summerland and whilst unable to draw a sell out crowd like their last Melbourne show at the Hi Fi, this Billboard show proved to be one hell of a performance.
Whilst openers, The Last Kinection, seemed to struggle to attract the rapidly filling venue at first, it didn’t take long for the trio – made up of DJ and duel vocalists – to get a fair contingent of early comers jumping around in front of the stage. Rightly so that people were been getting into it too, as the energy on stage did not relent for one second as jumps and rapid fire speech filled Billboard. Naomi Wenitong’s reworked lyrics of Still Call Australia Home highlighted the supporter’s slot, with the super political rewording of the track standing tall amongst various messages the band were dishing out.
The curtains were drawn on headliners, The Herd, and immediately the almost tripled head count produced easily a tripled energy level. Jane Tyrrell, Ozi Batla and Urthboy – who wore a rather interesting dress shirt with hood attached – bounded out centre stage and immediately hyped the crowd with the choruses of We Can’t Hear You. “Na na na na nas” were all round as the eight on stage playfully danced, jumped and pushed one another around. Opening with an older track seemed a well thought out move for The Herd, as it had everyone in high spirits immediately, though 2020 from their latest efforts followed and managed to get an even bigger reaction thanks to Tyrrell’s soulful additions.
The not quite full Billboard seemed to pack tight toward the front as the set went on, and the crowd mostly emulated whatever the band were doing on stage. The funky Zug Zug had punters dancing and singing the nonsensical chorus line and the crazy spin of Toorali had many taking their energetic stride from Ozi Batla, who jumped sideways across the stage, swinging his limbs all over the place. Whilst dancing was on the cards for the most part, the slower Under Pressure brought the craziness down considerably as Tyrrell crooned through her choruses. The Redgum classic, I Was Only 19, of course sprung up as well and was met with a sea of clapping hands and booming voices for the final verse, complete with sampling from the original Redgum track.
“We’re not meant to say his name anymore; he’s just like a bad smell,” remarked Ozi Batla in response to Urthboy’s preface about a certain ex-Prime Minister. The verbal bashing seemed almost as popular as the song it introduced – The King Is Dead. The song proved itself to be one hell of a set closer with the crowd’s massive response complementing the both the song’s message and musical worth.
The verbal attacks continued as The Herd returned for their encore though, with 77% hyping the crowd even further. The rather comically performed Scallops was delivered with an ecstatic energy from all eight on stage, though it was the closing, polka-like performance of Unpredictable that won the evening. The ever increasing speed was met with equally as impressive antics – like Urthboy’s continuous bouncing backward onto his arm and then back to his feet – and left the Melbourne crowd in very high spirits.
