Live Review: Lil Dicky, Yo! Mafia

What better way to spend Friday the 13th than at Freaky Friday rapper Lil Dicky (aka David Burd)'s first ever Australian show. Fans of rap and comedy filled the Hordern Pavillion excited to catch the multi-platinum artist, famous for his unique comedic rap style, viral music videos and high profile collaborations.

Always one to get everyone moving, Melbourne DJ Yo! Mafia warmed up the crowd with her mix of '90s, '00s and current hip hop, R&B and trap in front of projections of video clips, scenes from shows like Rick And Morty and The Simpsons and even the recent infamous Kanye West TMZ interview.

A Lil Dicky chant broke out as the rapper walked on stage, kicking off his set with Snoop Dogg collaboration and the title track of his debut album, Professional Rapper. He revealed that at his shows he usually sings the American national anthem, but that idea was quickly booed away by the crowd. Instead, he took off his jacket to unveil a Sydney Kings jersey as his DJ played the Australian national anthem, the crowd singing along at the top of their lungs.

A large part of Lil Dicky's appeal is his entertaining, humorous video clips — an element missing from his live show. Instead, the set was full of skits and comedic routines. He brought female fans onstage throughout the show to 'compete for his love'. A dating game show-like wheel was projected on the screen, which had them do things like put condoms on bananas, draw him, slap him across the face and play a game similar to pin the tail on the donkey — but the tail was replaced with a "long dick" and the donkey his hype man. Although funny and entertaining, certain bits (like his performance of Backstreet Boys' I Want It That Way) did seem like show-fillers.

He proved he has mad flow and bars with an excerpt from 11-minute track Pillow Talking, going hard a capella as the beat dropped off at the end. After assuring everyone he would "never give in to peer pressure", he finally did give in to the crowd's relentless chants for him to do a shoey, appeasing fans.

Phones went up to capture his performance of recent worldwide hit Freaky Friday (feat Chris Brown) before he smoked some weed on stage to Dr Dre's The Next Episode to introduce Too High. There was a very brief moment of sincerity, as he talked about a lost love, requesting everyone put their phone lights in the air for the softest song in his set, Molly, which features Panic! At the Disco frontman Brendon Urie.

Lil Dicky answered fans encore requests, almost immediately coming back on stage and asking if anyone was hungry, before throwing salad, eggs and an entire wedge of brie cheese into the audience. "I wanna tell you a story, man to people," he announced, before talking about how he followed his dream, and humbly thanking his fans for making it come true. Breathless and pantless, he finished his show with Ex Boyfriend, the track that launched him into prominence five years ago, and promised he'd come back to Sydney soon.