Live Review: Hilltop Hoods, Horrorshow, Briggs

People are still streaming in as Briggs wraps up another set featuring his trademark braggadocio. The Shepparton MC is a class act, and his career continues its ascendance. He's followed by Sydney's Horrorshow, who have come a long way since their earlier Festival Hall appearance supporting Bliss N Eso. MC Solo works the crowd like a pro while delivering his brand of thoughtful, poetic hip hop. Beloved tracks like Thoughtcrime and Walk You Home get plenty of crowd love, and a brilliant new track, Dead Star Shine, is seriously impressive. Seth Sentry jumps up on stage to close out the set with their collaboration Our Song, much to the crowd's delight.

The stage is empty, and the chant (“Hill-top, hill-top...”) goes up. Soon enough, the boys from Adelaide oblige. MC Pressure stands centre stage, lit by yellow light – homage to the Drinking From The Sun cover art. He performs the album's opener, The Thirst Part 1, before his partner in crime Suffa joins him on stage. They launch into Good For Nothing, with DJ Debris scratching up a storm behind the decks. The pace is furious, the bass is heavy and there are some nifty pyrotechnics to boot. The Hilltop Hoods are here to show Melbourne how it's done.

They've got some live instrumentation in the mix – One Above is on keys, while Plutonic Lab works his magic on drums. The new stuff mixed with plenty of old hits – live classic Recapturing The Vibe makes an early appearance, and recent track Lights Out is followed up with a stellar rendition of The Nosebleed Section. Suffa and Pressure are acutely aware of the power they command over their audience. They can't resist stopping mid-song to make the crowd cheer on cue, and the punters are all too happy to oblige. It's nice to see them using their powers for good, though – before launching into their Chali 2na collaboration Speaking In Tongues, they demand an end to bigotry. “We are all one people under one music!” bellows Suffa, raising his index finger to represent unity.

I Love It is, indeed, loved, and to 'finish' the set, Shredding The Balloon is mixed in with a touch of Fatboy Slim's Praise You. The crowd are nowhere near done with the Hoods, though, and they're back on stage a few minutes later with The Return, which they follow up with a truncated version of their Beastie Boys 'Like A Version' cover, So What'cha Want, in tribute to the late MCA. The set closes – for real, this time – with the outstanding track Rattling The Keys To The Kingdom, which gives all three the chance to shine. Suffa and Pressure deliver their rhymes with precision and intensity, while Debris whips the beats, and the crowd, into a frenzy. There's no need to for the Hoods to merely rattle the keys: the kingdom is theirs, and with shows like this, there's little chance they'll be dethroned any time soon.