Live Review: Hilltop Hoods, Horrorshow, Briggs

The Braggadocio-saurus known as Briggs is the first emcee to take the stage at the Hordern Pavilion. With a larger than life persona and adaptable flow, the rapper from Shepparton is not only charismatic but also armed with an array of crowd-pleasing hip hop tunes. He finishes up his entertaining set with latest single, Rather Be Dead. A special mention must be made of DJ Jaytee, who not only provides beats for Briggs but also turns the normally tedious waiting between sets into a mix of hip hop anthems that keeps the energy levels up until Horrowshow step up to the mic.

Headliners in their own right, Horrowshow start out with a snippet of Lana Del Rey's Blue Jeans before diving into their brand of smooth, storytelling hip hop. Forcing the crowd to face a guilty pleasure, DJ Adit weaves in the beat from Limp Bizkit's N 2 Gether Now as Solo raps 2009 track, Truth Be Told, before being joined by Joyride and Spit Syndicate in a One Day Crew reunion. All hands are in the air for closing tune, The Rain, proving that Horrowshow's less abrasive, thought-provoking style of hip hop plays well in your headphones and live on stage.

If it wasn't the case before, with the release of Drinking From The Sun, Hilltop Hoods are now an elite act that can put together a setlist comprised entirely of hit songs. After locking the crowd in with a brief but intimate portion of The Thirst, the show literally explodes with fireworks as Good For Nothing has the crowd jumping from the get-go. Joined by One Above on keys, Plutonic on drums and of course DJ Debris, the live instrumentation adds mightily to fan favourites such as The Hard Road, The Nosebleed Section and Chase That Feeling. The band's collective talents are showcased when they square off against pre-recorded projects of themselves during a cool instrumental interlude.

Suffa MC and Pressure deliver their lyrics flawlessly and express obvious joy from the crowd's elation. Bringing the evening to an end with an encore hotter than the fireballs that burst from the stage and 'rapping' up on Rattling The Keys To The Kingdom, Hilltop show that despite being veterans of Oz hip hop they still improve with each record and prove with each gig that they don't get older, they just get better.