There was not a cloud in the sky as Supafest made the leap from stadium show to full-fledged festival. While the sun god smiled on Melbourne, the first half of the day was plagued by dubious scheduling. Second performer of the day Bow Wow voiced his concerns loudly, while punters had to figure out the locations of water stations and the DJ Mash-Up room.
Keri Hilson and Plump Joe, not hefty enough to be called ‘Fat’ anymore, worked the crowd but things didn’t kick off proper until Ciara hit the stage. She put on quite a show as the hot sun beat down on her leather outfit. Taking a breather from the hormones in the air, I missed most of Taio Cruz and T-Pain, getting the impression in what I did catch that neither made much effort to engage with the crowd.
Luckily, I did witness Compton bad-boy Game. The self-described “inapporpriate mutha fucka” skulled a bottle of Vodka and got one of his female fans to show off her breasts on the big screen. Busta Rhymes joined the growing trend of the day, piggybacking on other peoples hit songs to get a rise out of the crowd.
Having come of age listening to both Nelly and Snoop Dogg there was a certain poignancy to the final lap of the day, as the sun set on the stage. Decked out in an AC/DC t-shirt and complete with a full band, the charismatic St. Louis rapper invited two female fans on stage for duets to the groans of many. One, who could be described as full figured, was grinding up against a shirtless Nelly as he performed the raunchy Body On Me.
The ubiquitous Snoop Dogg, who was treated like royalty, filled his set with a mixture of party anthems and love songs (if you can call I Wanna Fuck You a love song). Rocking a Lakers jersey, he oozed natural charm even when showing a film clip of himself shooting someone in the head.
As the entire Supafest line-up came out on stage for the grand finale it was almost as if missteps from earlier were washed away. While the future of such events felt like a given, the next event, Winterbeatz, will be a true test
