It was a long wait for Banks to hit the main stage, but once she did it was nothing but sweaty dancing and mass chants. Having just come off the high that was Splendour In The Grass, she was in fine form – working the stage and regularly breaking into synchronised numbers with her back-up dancers.
Backed by a live drummer and her long-time collaborator, DJ Cosmo, Banks pulled out all the big guns from her two releases, 1991 and Broke With Expensive Taste, plus a few new ones for good measure.
The subtle piano backing of Desperado had the entire crowd cheering along. Banks worked the room, high fiving fans and screaming lyrics at their faces. It was generally pretty hard to tell what the hell she was rapping about, but that didn’t really effect the overall vibe.
Other crowd favourites included Jumanji and BBD, before Banks left the stage for a quick DJ intermission. She returned only to amp things up with Count Contessa, which got her so worked up she had to pause again to take her shoes off. Everyone in the room raised their hands to clap along with 1991, and then bounced along with the intense chorus.
The near-20 song set rounded out with nothing but bangers, including Ice Princess, ATM, Esta Noche and closed with 212, which every single person in the room sang along to.
Banks left the stage to catch her breath for a moment, but was brought back by a deafening encore request from fans. She returned to finish with Yung Rapunxel, which had her rapping the last few verses into a megaphone – deafening fans who were too happy to care.
BY CHRIS BRIGHT
Photo By David Harris
Loved: The intensity.
Hated: Struggling to decipher lyrics.
Drank: Beer.
