When picturing an all-ages hip hop gig, one may be forgiven for being haunted by images of baggy-panted teens running around a moshpit swearing and bumping into people. But 360’s Utopia Tour on Saturday 13th September at Thebarton Theatre couldn’t have been more different. 360’s obvious popularity pulled an incredible crowd, but his supporting crew had just as loyal a fan base making the evening more like a short, yet quality hip hop festival rather than a headliner with a couple of guys warming the crowd.
Hopsin (USA), PEZ, Miracle and Lunar C (UK) are the support acts on the 360 tour. PEZ, a hip-hop legend put on a typically legendary performance, getting the crowd jumping and proving to be as good as his reputation precedes. Hopsin took off his shirt, the girls swooned and the boys put their hands in the air as instructed. He was charismatic, cool and showed the full house a good time.
360 (Matt Colwell) got everyone up on their feet, even those in the seats at the back of the Thebby. He engaged with his audience and played old favourites and a lot off the new Utopia album. It was a joy when he invited Gossling to the stage to sing, “Boys Like You” with him, which brought the house down. Unfortunately he had to stop halfway through “Price of Fame” to break up a fight happening in the crowd. It was the second fight he’d diffused so he led the audience in a chorus of, “You are a w!%nker!” which the punters adored so they followed with an adoring chant of “360!” – it was a strangely lovely moment, despite being born from idiots trying to ruin a good night out.
The rapper, who is accessible to his diverse fan base, has an incredible energy on stage. He’s fun to watch and it’s hard to sit still. His music is magnetic, as is his cool, gentle stage persona, which is almost exactly as he is off stage. What you see is what you get with 360 and that’s the appeal of the successful young musician. The Thebarton Theatre is a good venue for medium sized gigs like this one and security was tight, responding to every and any incident, which was appropriate for an all ages gig.
The Utopia Tour finishes up in Perth next week. Tickets are available from www.360music.com.au
Reviewed by Libby Parker
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