Live Review: Run The Jewels, Flatbush Zombies

There was a strange juxtaposition as the crowd started flowing into Luna Park on Friday night. Rides spun, lights flashed, kids screamed with delight while hordes of hip hop fans, wearing caps and various gig apparel, streamed through the amusement park into the sold-out Big Top. The nearly-3,000 capacity venue was a good size for the gig tonight; two rising hip hop acts that were as old school as they were fresh. 

Flatbush Zombies were an excellent warm-up act. In fact, their energetic, wildly entertaining stage show was almost too big (as we would discover later.) The grimy hip hop outfit from Brooklyn whipped the crowd into a frenzy right from the get-go. The combination of voices from MCs Meechy Darko, Zombie Juice and Erick Arc Elliott were powerful, exciting and a little bit dangerous.

The crowd, not having seen the group in Australia for several years, were hungry for it and bounced frantically. Screaming out the words to their tracks, which incidentally this reviewer struggled to identify. It hardly mattered, however. The intensity of the delivery and the sheer ballsy fun they instigated was a joy to watch, even from a distance.

As the trio rotated singing duties, the others would strangely disappear off to the side of stage for minutes at a time. What was happening back there? Tired? Need a drink? Maybe a quick toke? It was a weird thing to watch, but when all three of the MCs were on stage, it was a sight to behold.

The set ended with an apparently common schtick. Darko jumped into a throbbing throng of a crowd while Smells Like Teen Spirit blasted out. It was a strange combo to close out a set, but it was one that really heated up the crowd.

The moshpit antics weren't without a casualty, however, as a roadie took to the mic in between sets looking for a watch that went missing. Somewhat surprisingly, but heartwarmingly, a punter returned the missing watch.

The selection of Queen's We Are The Champions was a suitably awkward choice to enter on and, with some technical issues in the first couple of songs, it took a little while for Run The Jewels to hit their stride. The third song, Call Ticketron, saw Killer Mike's rapping skills warming right up and when they hit Legend Has It, the crowd was in full swing, chanting "RTJ" on cue.

RTJ have two rules and they're good ones: 1) Keep an eye out for your fellow fans. Help them if they fall and 2) Keep your hands to yourself ("... Especially the fellas..."). It's this sort of common sense mantra that places RTJ a rung above the young rappers in the game. Maybe it's because they're older (both over 40), or maybe it's just important that music fans are reminded of what is acceptable and what is not.

DJ Shadow's Nobody Speak along with Sea Legs were set highlights. Killer Mike is a scorchingly good rapper and El-P was a perfect partner, although his rapping wasn't quite as direct or on point. DJ Trackstar on the decks also solidly backed up the vocals most of the time. The crowd waved their hands, raised fists and 'finger guns' in the air and sang at the right points, but it felt like there was a distinct lack of energy compared to during the opening act. It didn't detract from the performance, but it did reflect on a crowd that may have gone too hard too early.

With the heat in Big Top climbing quickly, El-P took a moment to point to the "over 35s" in the seated section and exclaimed, "I'd be there, too, if I was watching me!" They took it a step back with a reflective Killer Mike introducing Thursday In The Danger Room.

The encore of Down and A Christmas Fucking Miracle completed a solid, hour-long set that proved Run The Jewels are as powerful and fun live as they are on their records and showed it doesn't matter when you start a group; if you're good enough, people will come.