The ANU Bar has had a steady stream of internationally acclaimed acts come through this year, and Friday night was no exception. Australian electro/hiphop act Snob Scrilla rolled into town on his Farewell Monkey Tour with two supporting bands, and blew the place away.

Considering the headline act, the other two bands seemed strange yet eclectic support choices.

Mixing emo, rock and indie sensibilities, Sydney band Amy Meredith started the night off. Unfortunately, the audience was by no means large, meaning the potential power of the five-piece was not realised. Impressive vocals and energy helped grab the audience’s attention, but not even a more renowned band could’ve saved their set from the poor vibe.

Next up were upcoming indie darlings Dash and Will. Named according to what the two female lead singers would’ve been named had they been boys, Dash and Will blend folksy rock n’ roll with pop lyrics. Playing a particularly good cover of Somethin’ Wrong by The Easybeats, the two lead singers have vastly different vocal ranges, probably best described as sweet and sour mixing for pretty harmony.
With the drums so loud that you could hear the music from the parking lot, the five-piece had trouble separating each song into separate entities, thereby making the set sound pretty tame and tedious. The girls interacted with their fans and the growing crowd seemed to enjoy the vibe.

Remembering Snob Scrilla from UC’s Stonefest last year, more and more people turned up throughout the night, making up a big crowd in time for the headline act.

Finally, at 10.45, Snob Scrilla took to the stage and was momentarily drowned out by the screaming crowd. Backed up by a drummer and guy on a laptop and keyboard, Snob Scrilla, aka Sean Ray, smacked of amazing energy. One thing that the Australian hip-hop star is particularly adept at is working the audience; crowd interaction is obviously high on his list of priorities. Asking in his mismatched American accent - œAre you ready for some rad kinky times?’, Snob Scrilla, fed off the atmosphere generated by the crowd, returning the energy with his music and genuine friendliness.

Playing an exciting and invigorating set to a loudly-appreciative audience, Snob Scrilla knew he had the ANU Bar eating out of his palm. He seemed stoked that the Canberra audience was so pumped and obviously didn’t expect the reception. His photographer, Nicky, documented the whole set, taking more photos of the audience than the music-makers.

After the set, he returned quickly for an encore, not keeping his adoring audience waiting. Instead, he selected a heap of people from the audience to join him on stage and set about rocking the place with his makeshift back-up dancers one more time.