Live Review: TLC, DJ Mimi

DJ MIMI from the mixing collective CRXZY SXXY CXXL got the Enmore Theatre crowd moving with a combination of hip hop and R&B grooves from the '90s, noughties and now. A modest audience shook their booties in anticipation of the main drawcard of the night, who formed 25 years ago.

An all-encompassing entertainment extravaganza ensued with a flourish of the three embossed letters everyone had come to see: TLC. Tionne "T-Boz" Watkins and Rozonda "Chilli" Thomas paraded around the stage in ripped denim one-pieces, aided by a tight but slightly confused quartet of musicians (drummer, keys, bass and DJ). 

The lights flared and the visual display scrolled through a montage of video clip snippets, transporting everyone in the audience back to TLC's heyday when the group was complete with Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes who passed away in 2002. 

T-Boz ran the show while Chilli added a bit of spice to the mix; a quartet of background dancers gyrated and jived to fill in the empty spaces of the stage. The duo worked tirelessly to compensate for the loss of their fallen sister but there was a palpable absence assuming one third of the stage. In spite of the exciting complementary performance — comprised of brief interludes of dance and musical solos — and the effort of these influential R&B veterans, TLC is nothing without the LOVE. Thankfully this was provided by an audience of diehards and divas, one of whom was lucky enough to be beckoned to the stage as the central feature of the sultry Red Light Special. 

Crowd pleasers like Creep, Diggin' On You and Silly Ho kept the night moving and the revellers bopping along, but it was the timeless hits Waterfalls and No Scrubs that brought the house down.