Metropolis, Fremantle, Australia.
Not being a huge fan of hip hop (unlike Busta Rhymes Erskine) I was a little concerned by the large volume of wigga's of all nationalities and their bee-arches in the venue...I thought the Roots were the mature, in age and style, men of hip hop...anyways...a fairly decent crowd, the ground floor packed, a bit of room upstairs on Level 1...the other Levels not opened up...
P.Money played support (apparently he is Scribes DJ...which didn't mean much to me) and he kept the crowd happy with some favourites (Simo, when you hear your favourite track of the summer "Drop it Like it's Hot" scratched to the bejesus...and "Gin and Juice"...well...I was sure I saw you grooving away down near the front)...
And then just after 9.30 the Roots came on for their advertised "2 hour set"... A mellow intro track to start and then KEBANG... These guys have got it going on...6 of them and a female singer...not knowing any of their tracks other than 2 or 3 I was told that it ranged from some of their early work, to the recent albo, add some Led Zep, Beatles, Wu Tang, Marvin Gaye,...a bass guitarist who is built like a tank, the drummer with the massive 'fro with a comb stuck in it...the guitarist who has a Miles Davis crazy haircut and might even possess a bit of Miles craziness...the guy on decks, samples and keys, the hip hopper hoorayer and other drummer on bongo's (with some early Moog synth pads)...
They left stage around 11.15...then came on for an encore that lasted at least 30 minutes...maybe closer to 45...as musicians they were pretty fcuking amazing...it wasn't all hip hop...it was a blend...when she sang, supported by the a bass, guitar and drums to some old faves, if you walked in then you would have thought that you were back in Chicago in the 30's...
And for those fanboys who collect things that the band discarded, well it started with them throwing in all the towels on stage and handing out a couple of set lists, the drummer and the other drummer (bongo's man), dishing out all the sticks they had... Then the drummer takes the bass skins of his drums and gets the 4 main men in the band to sign it and dishes them out like frisbees... One came my way, but took an ugly deflection off of about...oh...30 people...and spun off away from me... When the guitarist then took his two guitars and brought them out the front and motioned to throw them to the crowd...well...they wuz takin' the piss then...they stayed at the front of the stage as a melee of people got albo's and cd's signed...
Now I have to say that these guys are not my bag, but I was mighty impressed with what they played...a happy, political, mature brand of hip hop, with a stack of fun and cool covers and all kinda sheet as well...
....that however doesn't explain the only downer of the night being the Cannington Wigga Boys standing in front of me with their bee-arches on the stairs near the dancefloor and sound desk deciding that no-one was allowed to walk through them not long after the Roots started...you know these guys, the big puffy jackets that makes skinny runts look 4 times their size, the cool caps / P.Diddy beanies, the "my parents weren't born in Australian look" (I am being PC here...well...trying to be) the wannabe's hanging around them tryin' to be cool...buying them drinks...would have been close on 10 guys 5 girls...
My friend Carmen, who was dancing with some of her mates on the dancefloor came back to see me halfway through the set and told me that they were not letting anyone past them and told her "go around...you're not getting through"...and stood their like the tough dudes they obviously are...she went around and came and saw me...we had a laugh and a chat about it, she went back to dance and within minutes a fight broke out...well...I wouldn't call it a fight, some poor kid, maybe 18-19 (he looked like a UWA student...ie. rather non threatening) might have tried to push through and Sean Puffy Jacket #1 and Puff Diddy Puffy Jacket #2 hooked onto this kid and laid into him...being right behind a fight is not my idea of a good night out...as it careened and cartwheeled towards me...and I was rather quick to get out of the way and help a few others who hadn't cottoned onto what was happening...once it stopped...the kid who got laid out got up...didn't look too badly off, a couple of cuts and bruises, but not in a really bad way...and stood and glared at them, standing adjacent to me...
Hmmm......ahhh......hmmmm....he was getting hot glares from the Middle East / Red Sea back and I think he might have been coming to his senses a bit...so I suggested in a nice way that he watch the band from another place, for his own sake...he asked about his cap...did I see his Von Dutch cap...I want my cap...did you see my cap...I told him forget the cap mate...it ain't a good idea that you stand where you are bearing in mind current events, maybe it was time to watch the band from another place...sheesh...he moves off after a bit with a mate of his and hovers around...needless to say that CWB crew wuz lookin' over their puffy jacket enclosed shoulders for the rest of the night...their night pretty much ruined...they compared cut knuckles a few times...looked tough in their puffy jackets...their bee-arches chewed on gum and looked disinterested...so I asked myself...WHERE DID I SIGN UP TO DIS ??!!!
I have to say that the gig was pretty damn special (based on the musicianship alone)... 7.5/10 however the Eastside gang experience had my looking for my Tupac album when I got home so that I can empathise with their pain of being misunderstood...
As experienced by Tinman.
outpatients.