Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill ThemAll @ Prince Bandroom,Melbourne (03/06/2011)

Sat 4th Jun, 2011 in Gig Reviews

What a fascinating spectacle. Say whatever else you may about the Odd Future carnival, they’ve given us the biggest musical event this year. What is next? Where is it finally going to lead to? Save that for the think-pieces. Tonight, they were here, in Melbourne.

If you were excited about this gig, you weren’t alone. If you were sad because you missed out… yeah, you did. Some groups are static entities – from night to night, year to year. Odd Future will never be that. The most exciting movements are unpredictable, and this element they have in swag-bags full. Each night will change, and in a year’s time, there’s not a chance things will be as they are now. This, then, was definitely a once-a-lifetime thing.

What to expect? Spontaneity. Punk craziness. Visceral intensity. Here you go:
– Sandwitches
– A lengthy backstage dialogue of the members getting super-stoned, coughing into the mic and all.
– A stoned attitude from playing the last three nights 1000kms away.
– Extremely vigorous “FUCK OFF SYDNEY”’s, from the crowd, at any mention of our friendly neighbouring capital
– “You can’t say that, our Dj’s name is Sydney …”
– Things are going fairly mental
– “This ugly mother with the fucked up nose is Left Brain ”
– Said cerebral hemisphere looking goofily chuffed as Transylvania gets introduced as Tyler’s favourite song off Goblin
– “You guys are getting fucking hyped, I’m kinda creeped out”
– Quite a number of songs off Radical: Splatter, Everything Thats Yours, Double Cheeseburger and the ecstatically received Orange Juice, because “I miss my nigga, and I like performing this song sometimes….”
– Then Tron Cat
– People fucking love Tyler. Mike G, not getting so much love. His smile is charming, sure, but when he says “Go Mike G” ( Go Mike G ), yeah, no one really wants to say that so much
– Domo’s popular though – Tang Golf, Drunk, and that one where he repeatedly states life-mantra “Smoke weed”, go down like treats. Plus he kills Tyler on Super Market, where the latter forgets the lyrics
– Fish unexpectedly segues to French
– My friend is bleeding!
– Hodgy’s looking a bit weird – lacking vigour, or just really stoned. But then he goes on a diatribe about this: “fuck the hype, this is Wolf Gang nigga, this means something”. Tyler and Left Brain are behind him playing a ninja roll/swag-hand-stand competition. The crowd cheers Left Brain’s extreme example of the latter, Hodgy maybe thinks they’re cheering him.
– Mellowhype’s 65 sees LB and Tyler synchronise ridiculous and hilarious backup dancing. They know how to have fun, and performing well is the same thing. Domo joins in, starts cracking up as Tyler performs exaggerated masturbation movements while Hodgy raps. Hang on, what?

The only counterbalance to extreme swagger is a dark kind of arrogance, there were only slight shades of it tonight, but it was there, creeping in. Exhaustion was definitely playing a role, but there was some complacency in how Tyler introduced Yonkers: “So, this is my most popular song, I’m pretty sure, you guys are all gonna know it, you can all go crazy. So, I guess… drop it.” Then, “ok, for this next song, Imma do a ninja roll, and as soon as I get up, I want you to drop the beat.” He rolls then punches the air and on that exact moment, Seven drops. His eyes go wide with a disbelief of how awesome that was, and yeah, it really fucking was, and we know it.

The best came last, though. Tyler decided a beatbox intro to the last song would be cool; after two attempts, the beat dropping but stopping, we knew which song it was, what was coming. Most insane buildup; “Turn this up as loud as it can go, I want noses bleeding”; you know what song it’s gonna be; hype hype hype hype hype; this is the best gig of the year; it sold out so quick; it’s gonna be crazy you know; here we go; Radicals hits. It’s fucking insane. Tyler and Left Brain (that man is scary onstage) are both shirtless, crowd surfing like mad men, then it’s over.

The outro song is Earl, they’re still onstage, so amped up, but eventually, they’re all gone. It went quickly. And so might they. But with gigs like these how can you not be convinced?