Live Review: Illy, Tuka, Allday, Elemont

It takes a brave man to pull a show in WA the night of the Dockers' first grand final, but Illy still drew a decent crowd of young Aussie hip hop fans on his first headlining tour. After dragging themselves away from the boozy grand final parties and making their way through the labyrinth that is Villa's security, fans of Aussie hip hop were treated to a bill of some of the country's up and coming rappers.

First up were newbies Elemont and Allday; while they weren't terrible to watch, their sets were mainly comprised of generic, repetitive beats with lackluster rhymes chucked carelessly over the top. While these guys will be ones to look out for when they've had more experience, at the moment they seem a little too green to be on a nationwide tour. Thundamental's Tuka swaggered on stage to an enthusiastic welcome from the intimate crowd, and he and his DJ (bizarrely, dressed as a ninja) ran through a steady stream of good tunes. Tuka's Like A Version cover of Chet Faker's I'm Into You drew the biggest cheers from the crowd, and overall he was a strong and seasoned performer.

Illy didn't keep the crowd waiting too long and strode onstage to a huge cheer and to many girls losing their shit and twerking all over the place (yes, really). After assuring the crowd that he had, in fact, wanted Freo to win the grand final that afternoon - “it was an alright day; for some, a fairly shit day” - he launched into a set that was heavy on new tracks from his upcoming album, Cinematic. Noteable songs included his cover of Where Is My Mind?, The Chase and fan favourite Cigarettes, which sounded great despite Illy's constant apologies for his cold and sore throat.

“I love the enthusiasm, mate,” he grinned at one point during the night (right before an unprovoked rambling on just how shit Flo Rida is. Um, okay?). The excited response to his new songs certainly would have been encouraging - On & On seems to take on almost a more '80s techno inspiration, although it still has Illy's trademark catchy chorus and smarter-than-average lyrics. This tour seemed to suffer from some underdeveloped talent from the support acts – with the exception of Tuka, who actually does have the live skills to pull off a set with the easily distracted Villa crowd – but Illy's easy stage presence and likeable tunes still made the show worth coming out for.