Live Review: Hilltop Hoods, Thundamentals, K21

Some Cosby Sweaters would have made an ideal hand-out for fans waiting to see ARIA award-winning hip-hoppers, Hilltop Hoods, perform on the Hobart waterfront last night.

With temperatures barely exceeding 12 degrees, teenagers wrapped themselves in their high school leavers’ jumpers, while more experienced concert goers sipped on belly warming beverages before entering the spacious MAC2 venue. 

Opening for the Hoods’ was K21, a fellow South Australian hip-hopper signed to the Hoods’ label, Golden Era Records. K21 did a great job of hyping the crowd and bright stage lights turned the pale, goose-bumped skin of revellers gold. Throwing copies of his CD into the crowd and dropping Hobart references in to this lyrics, K21 broke the fourth wall and from that moment on the show became a display of uninhibited head bopping and (mostly) out of time hand-waving.

Thundamentals took to the stage next and the use of a live trumpet gave a full sound to their dubstep style beats and chilled out lyrics. Opening with hits such as Paint The Town Red and Quit Your Job, the group got the crowd singing before DJ Morgs showcased his skills with a dubstep breakdown that perfectly accompanied the grey sunset of a gloomy day in Hobart. After finishing their set the group said they would be heading outside to give out free hugs and while a smart way to create loyal fans, in a celebrity deprived city such as Hobart I couldn’t help but fear for their safety.

By the time Hilltop Hoods took to the stage the amount of under-20s in the crowd had significantly lowered and the audience developed a new energy. Opening with hits such as Chase That Feeling and Still Standing, the Hoods tested the audience’s lyric retention and pleased them with the songs they wanted to hear. The crowd clearly comprised newer fans and when the Hoods called Hard Road one of their “old songs” it seemed like the Hoods had abandoned their organic hip hop roots for the sake of pleasing a mainstream crowd.

Happily proving us wrong, however, following Nosebleed Section MC Suffa broke out into a ten-minute-long a cappella rap that thinned the now exhausted/wasted crowd, but showcased the vocal talent behind the group’s highly produced hooks. After performing some more sombre hits from their new record, Walking Under Stars, the crowd grew slightly before the trio left the stage without performing the tour’s title track, Cosby Sweater.

A clear grab for an encore, it took the crowd minutes to start chanting in unison but the Hoods came back out and everyone in the venue cheered in anticipation to hear what was clearly the favoured track.

The speed and timing of the crowd throwing their hands in the air to Cosby Sweater was quite an accurate barometer of the level of intoxication. Almost every person in the filled venue had their hands up, jumping/swaying to the artists of a highly rotated song about… well, who knows?

Overall, Hilltop Hoods, Thundamentals and K21 put on a great mini-festival of dirty dubstep beats, politically charged hip hop lyrics, melodic brass and a lot of expensive cans of Captain Morgan.