Live Review: Little Simz, Sampa The Great, Shantan Wantan Ichiban

Triple j personality and Sydney's go-to guy for R&B, hip hop, trap and dance-heavy DJ sets, Shantan Wantan Ichiban hopped on the decks as the first support act of the night. Spinning tracks along the likes of The Internet's Dontcha, GoldLink's Wassup and Vic Mensa's crowd pleasing Wimme Nah, the room rapidly started to fill to capacity for the night's sold out show.

Rising star, singer/songwriter and spoken word poet Sampa The Great (aka Sampa Tembo) followed through and captivated the crowd from her very first track with her raw, honest and energetic stage presence. Performing tracks off her debut album The Great Mixtape, tracks Jamal, Class Trip and F E M A L E shone effortlessly. Her insightful and thought-provoking lyrics on race and gender have already made her one of the most exciting upcoming artists to watch.

Little Simz walked up on stage to a completely mental crowd; screaming and applauding the mere sight of the North London-raised actress, singer and rapper (real name Simbi Ajikawo). Decked out in an all black ensemble with a tailored suit jacket, sleeveless turtleneck, three quarter suit pants and a pair of Nikes, announcing "This is my first time in Australia. We cannot believe we sold this shit out on my birthday!" She performed Gratitude, followed by "a song I wrote about my next door neighbour" God Bless Mary. The crowd responded by singing happy birthday to the now 22-year-old, who was beaming from ear to ear.

Dead Body inspired hardcore fans up the back to gather into a mosh pit, knocking around a couple of other crowd members in the process.Simz left momentarily and returned to the stage wearing one of her tour tees, freestyle-rapped her track Savage and let her fans know she wasn't into mosh pits. "Some people get frightened and hurt and I don't want my shows to be about violence. We all came as one people we're gonna leave as one people." We all left with this notion running in our heads.