Dizzee Rascal, The Subs, Tai @UC Refectory, Canberra(4/2/11)

Sun 6th Mar, 2011 in Gig Reviews

On Friday at midday the UC Refectory was just what you’d expect; students eating lunch and frantically finishing last minute assignments. However, by the time London’s finest, rap superstar Dizzee Rascal, took to the stage at 11:30pm that night it was sheer madness. The usual quiet chatter and fried food smells that usually fill the refectory were gone, replaced by a sticky floor, an overwhelming amount of canned beer and more than 1,700 sweaty and writhing people. Once you ignored the occasional grope by an intoxicated stranger, it was actually pretty spectacular.

But before Dizzee, there was support. Ushering eager fans through the doors were the combined musical stylings of resident Canberra DJs Cheese and Offtapia. Their selection of dance, house, pop and electro was the perfect playlist for grabbing a drink, having a dance and preparing one’s self for what was to come.

Not long after, Tai jumped on the decks, direct from Munich. The beat-maker whipped the already excited crowd into a frenzy and by the end of his set there was no room to spare on the dance floor, everyone clearly having set up camp in their spots for the night

It had taken four plane rides and one tiny run-in with the law at the Canberra Airport for Belgium’s The Subs to get to UC, but it was clear from their set that jetlag didn’t bother them. Their music, an intense blend of punk, dance and heavy-electro transfixed the crowd and by the time their hit Bang Bang Bang rolled around, the dance floor was well and truly transformed into a sweaty, insane moshpit.

Anticipation building, the heady crowd waited anxiously for what seemed like a pretty long 40 minutes until, accompanied by lights, screaming and sheer pandemonium, Dizzee Rascal appeared on stage. Looking every inch the cooler-than-thou rapper in his Air Jordan jersey, Dizzee kicked things off with the infectious Jus’ A Rascal, which had the crowd chanting along from the first beat. From there it was an onslaught of hits, with Old Skool, Bad Behaviour and Dirtee Disco following. It seemed the excitement was too much for some however, as one over-enthused and over-liquored young man took it upon himself to climb up on the speakers and back-flip into the crowd, leaving Dizzee to marvel at his stupidity, “This ain’t no festival, what an idiot!” he said. His cockney accent was as charming as ever.

As always, the show must go on and as that ambitious fan was carted out of the refectory the crowd descended further into mass hysteria. The insanity increased closer to the stage and one noted local photographer was overheard grumbling at how his media pass had been snatched off his neck by a pretty determined punter.

Dizzee, it seemed, only got better as he went on. Much to the crowd’s delight, mega-hit Dance Wiv Me and Florence and The Machine’s You’ve Got The Love made an appearance before he appealed to the masses with chants of “Aussie, Aussie, Aussie, Oi, Oi, Oi!”

Dizzee’s departure from the stage a few songs later fooled no one, as he’d obviously saved the biggest for last. Sure enough, Dizzee made his way back onto the stage, remarking that he thought it was time we all went on a holiday. The crowd ate it up and, smirking at the shrill screams that followed his statement, Dizzee launched into Holiday.

Earlier on in the evening I’d mentioned to my companions how the media area was a godsend and I wouldn’t have survived in that hot, dirty crush below. However, as I watched the 1,700 strong crowd jump along in unison to Dizzee’s closing number Bonkers it didn’t seem half bad. In fact, it seemed pretty damn magical.

Leaving after the show that night, having exhausted every “I’m feeling pretty dizzy,” pun I could think of, it was pretty clear that that cockney rascal had driven us all bonkers.

Clearly, I haven’t exhausted all my bad puns.