Big Boi, Theophilus London @Enmore, Sydney (27/8/11)

Tue 30th Aug, 2011 in Gig Reviews

This was Big Boi’s third visit to Australia in the past 18 months but his first ‘real’ headline set in Sydney. After all those other two recent visits were for the Winterbeatz festival with the likes of Fatman Scoop, Ne-Yo and T-Pain and a strange set at a half filled Hordern as part of a video game promotion last November. Without having to play to Ne-Yo fans or shill for a car chase game his was a night for Big Boi to really show what he can deliver. And to make things even more enticing the Outkast star had even brought a full band along to back him up.

The early arrivals were treated to a set from Thundamentals who proved that they ain’t your standard Aussie hip-hop crew. Their free flowing set boasted everything from the French verses of Check My Fresh to dubstep beats and although some of the delivery was a little muffled they provided a fine opening to the night.

In surprisingly punctual fashion Theophilus London’s crew quickly set the stage by draping an American flag across the DJ’s riser; lest we forget that, despite his name, he’s actually from New York. London is well connected – working with the likes of TV on the Radio’s Dave Sitek, Solonge Knowles and Mark Ronson – but on his own he’s a fairly unconvincing performer, fumbling the mic and struggling to maintain any flow to the set. London was joined on stage by superfluous guitarist/homeless Vietnam vet lookalike John Hill; a runway runaway masquerading as a DJ; and his cousin who acted as roadie/hypeman.

There’s a touch of Big Boi’s Outkast partner Andre 3000 in London’s fashion sense, but he shares none of 3000’s lyrical prowess or flair. Costumed in the almost the same get up as on his album cover – black cowboy hat, white skinny leg jeans and sequined tank top – Theophilus London doesn’t look much like a rapper. And he doesn’t sound much like a rapper either delivering a fairly uninspiring set of pop tunes that the uncharitable would dismiss as ‘hip(ster)-hop’. Dropping a section of Jay-Z and Kanye’s Niggas in Paris mid-set and then idling about while they tried to work out how much longer London had to play – 2 minutes? 10? Oh, it’s 15? – just added to the unfocused mess.

London may be new to the game, but Big Boi has been doing his thing for nearly 20 years now – the cuts from Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik are from way back in 1994 and the date of this show marked 15 years since the release of ATLiens – and knows how to put on a show. Backed by a pair of trumpeters adding in sharp horn stabs, a dread-locked guitarist playing like a refugee from Parliament/Funkadelic and a stick twirling drummer (all wearing bright green track suits) plus MC BlackOwned C-Bones and DJ Swiff (both helpfully wearing t-shirts emblazoned with their names just in case you were wondering who they were) Big Boi opened of his set was a devastating blaze through his back catalogue. Leaning heavily on OutKast material Big Boi threw in bit of local flavour with Skew it on the Bar-B (“Cats keep it jumpin like kangaroos”) before dropping old classics including Rosa Parks, So Fresh, So Clean and an ecstatically received Miss Jackson.

With the film clips playing in sync and the band drilled to perfection they dashed through a bracket of cuts from Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty lead by thegloriously over-the-top opera of General Patton. Follow Us and Daddy Fat Sax were quickly thrown into the mix before the set peaked with the frantic one-two punch of Ghetto Musick and B.O.B..

After opening with such tightly packed assault of hits the crowd and Big Boi needed a breather but sadly, and perhaps inevitably after such a powerful opening, the set ran out of steam in the second half. The ‘ladies’ were invited on stage to live out their video clip fantasies with that cringeworthy cliché of live hip-hop known as ‘awkwardwhitegirlsdancing’ during The Way You Move and again for Tangarine. When you have a great band on stage why turn the spectacle into something resembling a Kings Cross taxi queue at 4am? Thankfully we were spared from a run through of the ‘Party over here; fuck you over there’ routine.

Mellow cuts Elevators (Me & You) and SpottieOttieDopaliscious helped the the set wind down, even if those glorious Spottie brass lines were almost drowned out by the double dose of beats provided by Swiff and the live drummer. And after a lap of solos for the band members to let the horns finally shine and allow Swiff to show off some swift cutting the night ended with Your DJ Ain’t No DJ (perhaps in ‘tribute’ to Theophilus London).

There’s no questioning Big Boi’s skills or his stage presence and at his best no one can touch him. This show (and especially the first half of the 80 minute set) was a masterclass of hip-hop swagger and with a new album rumoured for 2012 let’s hope another visit from Big Boi isn’t far off.