Live Review: Daily Meds, Beastside, Mr Theory, Prospecta, Dutch

On a blisteringly cold Friday in Bondi Junction record label Big Village brought together quite a large assortment of the city's freshest hip hop acts and things got heated very quickly. Prospecta, Mr Theory and Beastside were roughhousing in the street outside, swigging from bottles covered by brown paper bags as the crowd started to fall in.

MC Ellesquire competently kept things moving all night, Prospecta fired out intelligent rhymes over grimey beats from Iron Will, the overtly happy Mr Theory keeping the party going, even throwing in a semi-freestyle over Eagle Eye Cherry's Save Tonight.

Dutch has been making waves in Sydney for a while now, working with talented producers Ta-Ku and Cam Bluff (360, Spit Syndicate) among a host of others to produce Arcadia, his debut album, due out this year. The album flicks between thought-provoking observation like the track My Way and party anthems like Hank Moody.

Beastside were one member down, but the six-piece turned into a five-piece seamlessly and jumped around so much nobody could count the people on stage anyway. The boys told tales of bongs previously smoked on the stairs at Bondi Junction train station, which appear to have had no effect on their ability to create clever and at times hilarious wordplay. They kept it current, working the missing Malaysian Airways flight and Tony Abbott into a few newer tracks.

Daily Meds made their presence known long before their set began, signing posters and greeting fans right next to the entrance. It was almost midnight when they finally kicked off but Ellesquire did mention something about the party going real late.

They seemed the right mix of unsung and appreciative to be headlining what Big Village is trying to start here – regular displays of urban talent Sydney can be proud of, helping to build a stronger culture around hip hop. The lyrics and production of 2012's Happy Daze are a step forward in the scene and the set was equally progressive.