Live Review: Public Enemy - The Hi-Fi (Brisbane)

Melbourne's Seth Sentry opens the night on a fairly relaxed note. Waxing lyrical through personal narratives of curiosity and individualism, he keeps his cool with an easy delivery that sets up a great contrast for the mania to come. Train Catcher and recent single What's My Scene draw the focused set to a close, but not before Sentry and his DJ release the cap on their enthusiasm with a freestyle tribute to PE.

This city has been blessed with many visits from Public Enemy in their 25-year career, however, tonight is actually the first club show in a quite a long span of time. The many festival slots may have given us a taste over the years, but tonight Brisbane celebrates PE in full 'full effect'. After the infamous ...Armageddon siren announces game time, the veterans immediately rewind to the beginning of their legacy with Public Enemy #1 and Too Much Posse. Sharing 103 years of age between them, the dynamic duo of Chuck D and Flavor Flav demonstrate a relentless commitment to their cause as they bounce off each other with the astonishing enthusiasm and vigour of mere whippersnappers. Their stage presence in front of DJ Lord and the S1Ws is extraordinary enough, but PE always make sure to pack the extra artillery of a three-piece rhythm section too.

The group rock explosive versions of funktastic classics Welcome To The Terrordome, Bring The Noise and Don't Believe The Hype. And yes, their list of classics is seemingly endless. PE's legacy, however, is not just one of past successes, but rather that of a continually far-reaching and evolving perception of the hip hop art form. Their philosophy promotes cultural literacy through a creative and productive interaction with its forms, thus putting power and (the remote) control in the people's hands. They walk this 'cultural unity' walk in the live setting by hosting a very interactive show, which sees crowd participation peak as MCs are invited up on stage to rap over Flavor's drumming. PE constantly shift gears throughout, and while this is a facet of their confrontation which acts to alienate the many whom prefer things set to autopilot, there is likely very few left feeling alienated tonight by the time Chuck D and Co close this eclectically rambunctious set with the immortal Fight The Power.

An encore of Timebomb and the surprising Bedlam 13:13 tops off this monster of a set ,which is best summoned up by this live quote; “I seen PE, but you know what, tonight again that was crazy shit”!