Floridian Denzel Curry has been touted as a pioneer in rap’s new underground, and so when the Mischievous South 2025 World Tour was announced, many aficionados and hype-merchants of the genre were keen to see just how this 30-year-old rapper would build off the back of his hard-hitting 2024 release: King Of The Mischievous South Vol. 2.

Playing just his second gig of the year after a huge Brisbane show, Curry was fresh and clean – full of energy to accompany the intensity of tracks like breakthrough earworm RICKY and last year’s massive single, STILL IN THE PAINT. 

The lights dim, and the phones come out. ACT A DAMN FOOL plays out with variable crowd excitement, clouds buffering on the screen at the back of the stage and that trappy, swapmeety track rolling around.

The energy climbed instantly with the recognisable intro to RICKY, which saw phone-gripping hands bouncing in the air. The Hordern Pavilion buzzed with the exuberance of youth in this all-ages show, with plenty of young fans making it out to see one of their rap idols. HIT THE FLOOR saw the audience doing as they were told; the repetitive, uncompromising titular hook played out, encouraging the crowd to scream in call and response.

The lights flashed red. A circle formed, and the crowd converged in harmony with the drop. 

Curry brought a dynamic vocal performance to the decade-plus-old track, Zone 3, taken from his debut solo album Nostalgic 64 from all the way back in 2013. His voice was deeper and darker than the 18-year-old’s voice recorded on the studio performance while he instructed the crowd to throw three fingers up in homage to his hometown.

“I’m gonna sing something, but you gotta sing along. That guy said no. Fuck you, ‘No Guy’.”

It was fantastic to witness Walkin, taken from the highly acclaimed 2022 album – Curry’s fifth: Melt My Eyez See Your Future – which had a decidedly different, unique sonic quality compared to the heavy banging of much of his other albums. This track is just a taste of the avant-garde conscious jazz rap he ventured into a few years ago. That sample! That flow! Focused. Walkin. Mmm. Still, the live version added a heavy beat and saw the revellers rap along.

At times, Curry took breaks from his spitting to engage with his fans: “I need to catch up with this side a little.” Then COLE PIMP off King Of The Mischievous South, Vol. 2 furthered the meditative atmosphere, driving the audience to bounce and groove to the beat and join in on lines like “Money talkin' to me like, ‘Hey, Alexa.’”

“And if you lovin’ it, you stay.”

ULTRA SHXT also brought the crowd together as they bounced in unison and sang along to the thrice-repeated pre-chorus: “Rollin' up a leaf cigar. Sittin' in the back of my car. High as I wanna be, high as I ever been.”

It’s no wonder why Anthony Fantano, ‘the internet’s busiest music nerd, dubs him “one of the most consistently talented artists of his generation.” The “lyricist extraordinaire” (Fantano) taps into his “grimy” and “explosive” side on this new album, and the live show emulates that on a grand scale, taking the jugular-attacking simplicity of lyrical hooks and blasting through the JPJ audio system.

Forged from a late-night studio session in Australia during his last trip, BLACK FLAG FREESTYLE showcases the fun punning of Curry’s versatile muse while nodding to his collaborator on the track, That Mexican OT, and identifying himself as an erudite money manager allergic to ever being broke again. The line “I don’t even speak Creole. Bitch, I only speak my mind” pretty much sums it up. 

G’Z UP typifies that straight-for-the-throat straightforwardness and the unequivocally drilled-in lyricism characteristic of …Vol. 2. While GOATED is all hook, repeating that title over and over, SUMO|ZUMO added a bit more nuance and fun. 

Later, tracks like CLOUT CO13A1N and Ultimate ended the show, with minds blown and many youngsters exhausted from hours in the pit.

BVT – one of the emerging Australian artists to support Denzel Curry at his 2025 Australian shows as part of a triple j competition – brought confident and swaggering rap to the stage with plenty of dancing and martial arts to top it off.

Tracks like the recent release MAMACITA and the title track off the 2022 album, LALAKI saw BVT say, “I don’t give a fuck if you like this, this one’s for me – this one’s dedicated to the home of my ancestors from the Philippines. I sampled my grandmother’s village.”

“Finally, the great ones have returned to the Hordern Pavilion,” came the call from Nooky from 3%. “We just won two ARIAs a few months ago here.” The flex from the collaborative project from First Nations MCs, songwriters and producers. The group played tracks from their 2024 album, KILL THE DEAD, including Land Back and their rework of The Presets’ OUR PEOPLE.

“As you might know, this is a triple j-sponsored event. I actually work for triple j,” Nooky disclosed before plugging “the best show on triple j: Blak Out from 5-6 pm. The second best thing is Like A Version… this is Youngblood.”