Urthboy, Mantra @ ANU Bar,Canberra (14/05/2010)

Tue 18th May, 2010 in Gig Reviews

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Arriving adorned with hoodies over head and sneakers afoot, Canberra’s cold didn’t keep punters away from the ANU Bar to experience Aussie hip hop royalty, Urthboy on his Sneakquel Tour.

Against a plain backdrop with a lone Urthboy logo, Canberra locals DJ Buick and MC’s Anton and Newie took to the stage and thawed out the crowd with some sweet beats including Damian Marley’s Welcome to Jamrock.

Freestyle king Mantra bounded on stage next with DJ Wasabi. Opening with Perfect Little Island from his recently released debut Power of the Spoken, Mantra fought to keep the eagerly waiting crowd onside and did it well. Staying upbeat he joked with the audience and even gave us a peak at some sweet shoulder-dropping-hip-swaying dance moves. He incited audience participation during his track Flightpath, asking patrons to fold paper planes out of newspaper which haplessly resulted in a flaming paper plane flying on stage. Unbothered, Mantra continued his lyrically thick and juicy set, providing us with food for thought as he delivered his prose including the familiar I Hereby Stand.

It was time for the main event and Urthboy didn’t disappoint. Launching onstage along with Jane Tyrrell and DJ El Gusto the trio showed off what appeared to be choreographed moves as they opened by assuring us it will all be fine with a bit of Spitshine.

Urthboy kept the crowd captivated with his fervent energy and uniquely Australian lyrics of struggle in oldies like Nuthin’ I’d Rather Do and We Get Around. As well as the romantic the Signal and No Other after which he told us of his anticipation to see his lady the next day after spending six weeks apart.
Tyrrell’s voice held up well in the less aggressive Shruggin and the ever popular Hellsong from Urthboy’s most recent album offering Spitshine.

The crew went on to thrill the audience with a couple of covers including El Gusto’s rendition of the Eurythmics classic Sweet Dreams and a rare live performance of Urthboy’s Triple J’s ‘Like a Version’ cover of The Clash’s London Calling.
Wrapping up the set Urthboy invited Mantra and DJ Wasabi back to the stage for some freestyling fun and an all in group cover of Mary J Blige’s Family Affair which resulted in the crew abandoning the stage and taking the performance into the crowd, while Mantra resolved to crowd surf to finish up.

Lively and fun, hip hop without pretension.

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