Big Boi @ Metro City, Perth(03/09/11)

Fri 9th Sep, 2011 in Gig Reviews

Guest reviewer Dominic Pearce of Injured Ninja and Weapon is Sound fame shares his Big Boi experience with FasterLouder.

As a long time Outkast fan with every album of their discography in constant rotation within my home, and with no prior opportunities to witness them in any live context, I felt with unshakeable faith, that this would be a gig that couldn’t fail. Even if Big Boi walked on stage, shat in a bucket and left, I am fairly certain I would still be entertained. Such is my love for Outkast. Not even the fact the gig was at Metro City could dampen my spirits. Please note, I mean no offense to any of the promoters who bring these touring hip-hop acts through. I’m very happy and grateful we get to see these bands, but I find Metro City to be a horrible venue to view big hip-hop acts at. The P.A. is often over cranked to the point of lyrical redundancy, there’s the constant feeling of over-crowding, the over-bearing security, due largely to Metro’s usual weekend crowd, and the floors. (Seriously. It’s like wading through the drainage pit of a molasses factory covered in broken glass.) It would be fantastic to have a venue of comparable size to Metro’s with which to have these gigs at, if only for the sake of variety.

Gripes with the venue aside, Saturday’s gig was a stellar affair. Opening MC Theophilus London, clad in an inconspicuous wide-brimmed hat, did his best to warm up a still filling venue. Definite traces of early Andre 3000 influence can be heard in London’s music, particularly in his vocal delivery, so his support presence at Big Boi seemed fitting. While overall enjoyable, largely indistinguishable vocals didn’t help to keep the audience’s total attention through to the end, and I can’t say I’m a massive fan of the dance-oriented numbers in his set. A lot of the character in his studio excursions fails to transfer to the live arena. While I wasn’t overly blown away, London fans in the crowd had an absolute ball.

Then, there was Big Boi. From the crowd response to each progressive song in the set, it seemed those in attendance at Metro City expected the same I did: a slathering of solo material from the Sir Lucious Left Foot and Speakerboxxx LPs with only a few delves into classic Outkast material. Instead, Metro City got the closest thing we’re ever likely to see to the true Outkast live experience. With guitarist, drummer, horn section, DJ and hype man C-Bone behind him, Antwan Andre Patton stormed on-stage and dropped an Outkast back-catalog cluster bomb on Perth in triumphant style. Opening the set with General Patton, Big Boi made his way through every major Outkast single and cult favorite from every album all the way back to Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik. Truly a feast of fan service. It wasn’t just the hits that made the set so amazing, the iconic classics sliced into the mix; Elevators’ 86 and Playa’s Ball, the amazing interlude You May Die from ATliens (sung brilliantly by the band’s dreadlocked guitarist), and Aquemini’s Rosa Parks and timeless dub-reggae anthem Spottieottiedopalicious. No kidding folks, that track has the one of the best horn lines ever put to dub, and Big Boi’s horn section smashed every single note. Time spent with the Grammy Award winning Stankonia was just as rewarding, with brilliant live renditions of Ms. Jackson, So Fresh So Clean and the brilliant B.O.B. The set wound its way through Speakerboxxx, before returning to Big Boi’s Sir Lucious Left Foot – The Son of Chico Dusty. Testament to Boi’s musical skill and endurance, the new numbers still sounded powerful despite following a near-endless barrage of Outkast anthems. Shutterbug, You Ain’t No DJ, and Fo Yo Sorrows, the 4.20 anthem so good that George Clinton jumped on the track, had Metros moving with reckless abandon.

Andre 3000, although not present, still found himself on stage via the DJ’s video mixer set up. With every song came remixed video highlights from Outkast’s massive wealth of music video material, solidifying the experience and demonstrating the immense size and musical weight that is the Outkast name. There were only a couple of moments where the set seemed to slow – first up was hype man C-Bone’s solo interludes. While groovy, they paled in comparison to the talent of the main man Big Boi, especially slotted in between such a thick selection of classics. The other was the guest dancers from the crowd brought up to bring a bit of “booty” to the stage. Sadly, Perth is not the best place to do this, and it ended up looking like a horribly uncoordinated Supre’ commercial.

Those, however, are minor cons to a set damn near choking to death with pros. It was a shame to not see more fans down at Big Boi, be it high ticket prices in an overpriced economy or just a bad night for hip hop. That said, the crowd in attendance gave every inch of boogy they could muster, and rightly so. Big Boi commanded it. It was a fantastic night for true hardcore Outkast fans and casual Left Foots alike, with people dancing and screaming their way through every song.

As for this Outkast fan, I stood calmly amongst the throng as the Damn, damn, damn, daaaamns of Spottieottiedopalicious washed over me, eyes closed, and savored nearly two decades of hip-hop legend. Fine work, Mr. Patton.