Live Review: Yelawolf, Allday

After the obligatory hip hop frisk down by the predictably over-zealous security at the Metro, it was immediately obvious that the crowd who had come down to check out Alabama overnight sensation Yelawolf were 'proper' hip hop fans – the older crowd, almost exclusively dudes, coming to nod along and most likely to see if he could pull it off live. It's also immediately obvious that having current triple j-hop rising star Allday opening the show in support is a bad idea. Rapping over a collection of big budget mainstream hits (we're talking Kanye and Jay-Z's Ni**az In Paris or Lil Wayne's A Milli), it's clear his set is catered for the, ahem, 'younger' crowd. Allday managed to survive unscathed and held his head high for which he deserves due credit given the circumstances. 

Unfortunately, no local DJs were booked for between acts so the crowd was on the verge of falling asleep to the Beastie Boys album that filled the gap - a lazy substitution for what would have been a great opportunity for a local talent. It also meant that Yelawolf had to start from scratch to get some excitement going. Luckily for him, this was an absolute piece of piss. With only the slightest encouragement from Yelawolf's amazing tour DJ Artime, the crowd was whipped into a frenzy as soon as the man appeared and starting cranking through the tracks with barely a breathing break. Waiting until about halfway through the set to drop his breakthrough track Pop The Trunk, it became apparent how much of an impact this track has had both on the crowd and Yelawolf's career. He introduced the song as 'life changing' and proceeded to tear through the lyrics like his life still depended on it. With the rapturous reception and overall success of the track it's not surprising that there were plenty more 'Trunk Music' derivatives, but there was still plenty of recognition for other big tracks like Billy Crystal. The pace of the set didn't let up, and with no hype man, Yela had plenty of work to do but he made it look all too easy. DJ Artime's proper DJ style, cutting to the beat and enhancing every track really helped the show along as well, which all things considered, exceeded all expectations.