Bliss n Eso @ The MetroTheatre, Sydney (20/02/09)

Mon 23rd Feb, 2009 in Gig Reviews

Last October, Bliss n Eso played to a full house at Sydney’s Enmore Theatre. Hundreds of fans were treated to an amazing set, partying so hard that the street outside the venue resembled a riot zone. That show had such an electric feel to it that Bliss, Eso and DJ Izm decided to try to capture that atmosphere again for a live DVD.

Round two was held at the Metro Theatre and the show had sold out weeks in advance. It would have been interesting to know just how many of the fans had also been at the Enmore show, but I think it’s safe to assume it was the large majority. Getting the crowd ready for the main event was Melbourne based up-and-comer Pez, followed by Motley out of the UK.

The lights dimmed and two large video screens descended from the roof on each side of the stage. The cover art from their latest record Flying Colours served as the backdrop to the stage. Definitely one of the better album covers of last year, it is extremely effective when lit up and the boys are doing their thing in front of it. “I’ve been slavin’ for five days, and finally the weekends arrived…” Bliss, Eso and Izm hit the stage to a huge reception from the already vocal crowd, opening with the party starter Woodstock 2008.

I’ve been to DVD recordings before and something that really impressed me about this one was the lack of shout-outs like, “Were filming this for a DVD so we need you all to be as loud as possible!” It would have been unnecessary. The crowd was pumped from before Izm even dropped the first beat, chanting “Bliss n Eso! Bliss n Eso! Bliss n Eso!” to try to bring the boys on to the stage. Any thoughts of whether the boys would be able to capture a similar electric atmosphere to what they sparked at the Enmore were soon answered. The Metro’s stage being smaller than the Enmore’s instantly gave them a bigger stage presence.

But the stage wasn’t the only place they made their presence felt during the set. At one point, they disappeared off the stage, reappearing up in the stands. We were treated to all the favourites, the standouts being Eye of the Storm and an amazing version of Sea Is Rising. Happy In My Hoodie went over well as it always does, the line “pack the spliff full of high grade” taken literally by some of the audience. Most of the set-list was taken from the Flying Colours record, however they did dip back for a few older tracks off Day of the Dog such as Up Jumped The Boogie and Party at my Place, for which Motley joined them on stage.

Bliss N Eso were also joined on stage by Paris Wells for the first song of the encore, Field of Dreams. It was revealed we were the first audience to ever hear that song done live. Paris absolutely owned it with her massive voice – winding up what had been a hugely energetic live performance. Of all the highlights, I can’t wait to re-live the crowd participation on Bullet and a Target when the DVD comes out.

To those of you that missed out, don’t fret – there were a lot of cameras capturing the whole thing from all sorts of angles. I’m sure the footage they got will make for a great DVD, which I will happily recommend now before it’s even reached post-production…