Thursday, April 22, 2010

Sat 17th April - Kalib Kweli + Jean Grae @ The Espy


I do love Sydney with all my heart but it sure is expensive in comparison to Melbourne. Having spent a week in Victoria’s capital I discovered that a small pizza with oregano, olives, tomato, capsicum etc costs $2.50 and more importantly a really good coffee is only $2.50! You can also see loads of hip hop acts under the one roof including Lotek, Nikkita, Class A, A-Love, Mantra, Jean Grae and Talib Kweli for $50 as I did at the Espy in St Kilda on Saturday.

Before I get carried away, I’ll stay on the subject of music. I would like to start by saying that Mantra is fantastic, I’m yet to listen to his album but the songs I have heard, I’ve loved. He has an unbelievable ability to rhyme while building a story in the minds of the listener. This young man has some serious skills, an MC you must see live to get a true sense of how dark and fanatic he is.

I imagined I would rant and rave for blog pages after seeing Talib Kweli live, but to be totally honest I can’t remember much of his set. There were awesome moments but now he is just a distant Melbourne memory. What I can remember is Jean Grae who left a lasting impression. Her horrid wig aside, I was blown away by her sexy flow, full voice and her intimidating presence. The people I spoke to about the Tablib Kweli and Jean Grae tour either in Melbourne or Sydney talked about how amazing Jean Grae was live and how happy they were to have had the opportunity to see her perform. Poor Talib Kweli, not only was he up-staged by his lady friend but his personal laptop and phone were stolen back stage. Who am I trying to kid? There is nothing poor about this fellow, he is one of the hip hop scenes finest who stalked the thief on twitter until the guy returned his things.

I could have seen Jean Grae perform earlier that week for free, because that’s what happens in cities like Melbourne. International acts play free gigs for fans, but I didn’t go, even after advice from Sydneysiders, too many things to do in Melbourne with not enough time. I would not say I prefer Melbourne’s music scene over Sydney’s but I guess in a way, Sydney is similar to Talib Kweli, an old faithful, good at what they do, selling out massive shows but you’re still left with the unnerving memory of something better.

Image taken from facebook

4 comments:

  1. man it sounds like melbourne really does have it all going on! we are all show ponies up here in sydney i think hahaha and we pay the price for it!

    sounds like it was a massive concert some good names and Mantra with his debut album release is sure to fly high in the years to come, alot of big names like M-Phazes and Obese Records are behind him!

    you should have checked out the Obese Records store whilst down in Melbourne

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  2. I do agree to that one Anastasia. I was in Melbourne last week and believe me, they enjoy those price tags on everything. A day tripper in Melbourne costs as low as $6! I would love to live in Melbourne for all advantageous reasons!

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  3. Thanks for the feed back Alistair. Yeh I didn't get to the Obese Records store to be honest I didn't even think of going there, but maybe next time.

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