Big Boi
Horden Pavilion, Sydney
Friday 20th November
I'm a little worried.
Video game publisher Electronic Arts have hired out the Hordern Pavilion and an adjacent hall tonight to promote their latest game release. The hall holds dozens of high-performance sports cars, each crudely displaying the game's name across their windshields. While R&B beats are pumped through the speakers, a cluster of TVs in the centre of the room offer guests the chance to play the new game. Despite the buckets of cash that've clearly been splashed throughout the space, it's still a sterile environment, and the slowly-massing crowd reacts accordingly: it seems that the vast majority are reticent to engage with the game consoles, and unsure of how best to interact with the million-dollar automobiles we're surrounded by.
Later on, as part of the release festivities, the Pavilion itself hosts Big Boi, who's one half of the American hip-hop duo OutKast and who released his remarkable debut solo album,
Sir Luscious Left Foot: The Son Of Chico Dusty, earlier in the year. This is why I'm worried. Although it's loosely tied to a recent album release, this show is a one-off promo visit for Big Boi, who already visited Sydney, Melbourne and Perth in July as part of the Winterbeatz festival.
Since it's essentially a corporate gig and no-one in attendance paid for their ticket, it feels like there's a high likelihood that we'll be let down. A flicker of panic – fuck, are we going to go home disappointed? – is felt as soon as the MC takes the stage and digs quickly into material from
Sir Luscious Left Foot. He splices together several key tracks – 'General Patton', 'Follow Us' and 'Daddy Fat Sax' – within the space of a few minutes. None of them last longer than the second chorus. Shit. Is Boi just gonna phone in a brief half-hour slot, take the paycheck, and piss off home to Atlanta?
Thankfully, such fears are soon proven baseless. Although the self-editing continues throughout the set, Boi and his two collaborators give their all for over an hour, in which they air over 20 tracks. It's a powerhouse performance in every way: DJ Cutmaster Swiff keeps it tight behind the decks; Boi's vocalist offsider proves himself a worthy foil not too far removed from OutKast co-foudner Andre 3000; and the rapper himself works hard to give the people what they want. Hell, the first four tracks are OutKast faves. The chorus hook of opener 'Skew It On The Bar-B' is geographically topical (
"Old school players to new school fools/'Kast keep it jumpin like kangaroos"); 'Rosa Parks' keeps the momentum up, and the pair of tracks that follow – 'So Fresh, So Clean' and 'Ms. Jackson', both from 2000's landmark LP
Stankonia – still sound fresh ten years on. The way the crowd embraces the "Ooooh!" hook in the latter is the set's first knockout moment. Later, standout single 'B.O.B.', also from
Stankonia, appears in shortened form, and in a rare moment of confusion, the lyrical subtleties of both MCs' verses are lost amid the clamour and energy.
Not to worry. Dancers arrive during 'Star Wars' in the guise of policewomen – something to do with the game tie-in, I'm guessing – and amateurs are plucked from side of stage; they stick around for 'The Way You Move', and appear again in the encore, which consists of two
Sir Luscious Left Foot cuts, 'Tamborine' and the Andre 3000-produced 'You Ain't No DJ'. Throughout the set, a pair of video screens attempt to synchronise Boi's live performance with footage from their respective music videos, and for the most part, they succeed. The rapper doesn't shy away from digging deep into OutKast's back catalogue: he takes it back to 1994 with the title track from
Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik, which is immediately followed by 'Player's Ball'. It's pleasing to see that Boi still relishes these older numbers just as much as newer material. When he drops
Sir Luscious Left Foot's killer lead single, 'Shutterbugg', late in the set, I'm floored, and I'm not the only one. I already knew it was the best hip-hop track released in 2010; now I can confirm that it slays live, too. Despite the hour-plus spent wading through nearly two dozen quality tunes, there's no discernible sense of tedium. All three men – and their occasional female guests – are grinning and bouncing throughout; so too is the half-full Hordern.
Andrew McMillen