Snow let the songs speak for themselves – he hardly engaged beyond high-fives, but it was endearing, rather than arrogant. Overall, Snow definitely proved what we all already knew; that he’s unbelievably cool.
Triple j Unearthed High winner, Arno Faraji opened the night by strutting and booging across the stage, delivering a set’s worth of top quality tunes. He had the crowd bumping and cheering, bouncing along to every single rhyme, and filling up the mosh instead of milling around the bar. ‘Tree’x’ was the hardest rhyme of Faraji’s set, delivered with the most enthusiasm and adlibs to revv up the already sparky crowd. A relatively minor hiccup – “how you goin’ tonight, Sydney?” – lost the crowd for only a moment before he stopped the concert to explain that it had been a whirlwind tour, he’d just lost his wallet, and he’d hated Sydney’s vibe the night before anyway. After spending a sufficient amount of time shitting all over our rival city, the crowd was back eating out of the palm of his hand.
As soon as Faraji left the stage, the crowd sensed what was coming; a rush toward the front was premature, but you know, you snooze you lose.
After about half an hour, Skinny Macho – Snow’s tour DJ – dawdled on stage with a grin and started spinning beats. After being asked if we were ready for Rejjie about seven times over 10 minutes, the crowd began to lose patience. Luckily, Skinny must have realised because the beats got heavier and he gestured for the headliner to make his way on.
With a smile and a shy hunch, Rejjie Snow appeared amidst a roar and another massive rush toward the stage, launching into ‘Rainbows’. His genre-less sound, similar to the funk-influenced hip hop of Anderson .Paak and the self-reflective lyricism of King Krule, shone. The opening bars of ‘1992’ sent the room into hysterics. ‘Charlie Brown’ was a bop and a half, Snow nailing every note while Skinny encouraged the crowd to jump and get amped – they didn’t need to be told twice.
Though he steered clear of classic mellow tunes such as ‘23’, Snow and Skinny found time to change up the pace. ‘Pink Lemonade’ was a respite between bangers, and the crowd didn’t miss a single call in ‘Loveleen’ – Snow’s biggest smiles were seen during this one.
Snow commanded the crowd with ease despite the absolute mess of limbs and faces ahead of him; he administered high-fives, smirks, and winks like he’d been doing this since birth. Even when he was leaving the stage, he lingered as if he didn’t really want to leave. With one last look and wave, he walked off and let Skinny land a few more beats before bringing up the lights.
Highlight: ‘Spaceships’.
Lowlight: Skinny Macho telling the girls to move out of the way so the boys could mosh.
Crowd favourite: ‘Charlie Brown’.
