Live Review: Sprung Festival

Poncho, T-shirts and sunnies wearers flow through a sea of Supernova costumes to follow the beat calling the second annual Sprung hip hop festival. Seth Sentry gets the vibes flowing as the Star Wars All Star Storm Troopers groove on the inside stage to Float Away. Soon Mantra hits his scratch-filled set, and from the euphoric I Hereby Stand through to the melodic Got Me Wrong to raising the roof with Jeremedy, the Obese MC kills his set with freestyle ease.

Vents bursts out with fellow Golden Era smartarse Trials. They jump across the inside stage like it's their personal trampoline to Love Song, as the beach balls bounce through the moshpit. Melbourne collective TZU prepare to take the shed into their sound journey, funking out for We Got The Feeling as Phillip Norman brings out the bass. The entire crowd sings along to the nostalgia of Summer Dayze, then get groovy again as the Storm Troopers return for a boogie. The acoustic comes out for Heavy Heart, which beautifully wafts through the air, then the spiritual echoes continue with Coming Round spiking up to You're Beautiful. Continuing with the organic mood, Thundamentals take the stage with a brass trio, to pump out the usually chilled My Favourite Song. All hands are clapping as water is being sprayed in the mosh for Move It Up, topped off with a dubstep and brass jam off. 

On the outside stage, Spit Syndicate give those cooling down in the rain a lyrical show with See Me Now and Pretty Girls Dig Graves. They get everyone to bounce it out with Horror Show's Choose None, then end with the long-awaited Beauty And The Bricks. Back inside, Pez has all hands up as he spitfires through These Days with Hailey Cramer crooning on the hook. The entire shed is still dancing up a storm as they bring out Hot Stepper and Everyday People. Kerser fires out his battle lines outside as DJ Nino Brown scratches out. He has everyone shouting back “Kers-Kerser is the sickest!” before throwing out some signed Fiikboard decks. Soon, everyone piles into the shed and starts the “Hillltooopp!” chants, before that familiar low-toned flow of Hilltop Hoods hits the speakers. Heads are banging to Good For Nothing ready for the Recapturing The Vibe explosion. The breakthrough pioneers of Australian hip hop pay their respects to the first Australian hip hop festival then move through classics with such professionalism as they pause for effect and check on their fans with “Are you tired Brisbane?!”. DJ Debris impossibly raises the roof even higher with a scratch off to Fat Boy Slim's Praise You before the days' acts join the headliners onstage to end the amazing day with Rattle The Keys To The Kingdom, already getting festival goers excited for next year's Sprung Festival.