REVIEW: Big Boi At Hordern Pavillion, Sydney

For those familiar with Big Boi’s work, it speaks for itself. As ‘Outkast’ he stays ahead of the field by experimenting with a different brand of hip hop and personality. Individually, Big Boi is the less artisan-more-hood side of the group (in my humble opinion). His hood playboy swag was in full effect as he played the Hordern Pavilion in Sydney on November 18.

The show was actually a promotional gig for the release of the new ‘Need for Speed’ for EA Games. Say, if you were to pre-order a copy of ‘Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit’ online, you would get a free ticket to the concert. Now I’m not exactly a gaming fiend, so my girl at MTV was my only chance of getting in there and when she hooked up the ticket I was jumping like Lebron.

So Big Boi stepped out and did it with a mix of the Outkast hits and new stuff from Sir Lucious Leftfoot: The Son of Chico Dusty. The crowd went ape with reminiscent smiles at ‘Ms. Jackson’ (queue: Whoo, whoo, whoo), ‘So Fresh, So Clean’, B.O.B and Ghetto Musick; and then threw their hands in the air at Big Boi’s request as he worked his way through some of the new catalogue (specifically ‘Shutterbug’, ‘You Aint No DJ’ and ‘Tangerine’). Unfortunately songs like ‘Follow Us’ and ‘Daddy Fat Sax’ were cut up to be mere stops in a medley of beats. This however, for me was the only unfortunate part of the performance. For a free gig, where Big flew 15 hours (as he repeatedly boasted), he killed the crowd.

From the energy Big Boi and his crew gave the crowd to the shaking of the girls that were pulled on stage to dance (or their interpretation of) to ‘Tangerine’, the event was a musical success. Regardless of the marketing agenda behind Electronic Arts (EA) bringing Big Boi over, his worth was evident.

At the end of the night, my girls who had never been the greatest of Big Boi fans, were raving about the standard of his performance, and cracking up at the personality of Big Boi as it plays out on stage. So Im saying, if you ever come across  an opportunity to see dude live and all you have to do is buy a video game? Don’t sleep on it like me. Just do it.

Review by Eliorah Malifa