First concert for the year, and wildly enough, the first of at least two or three scheduled. Z-Trip is one of the world’s top hip-hop (among other things) DJs, and the Sydney Festival Becks Bar at Hyde Park Baracks is an intimate and quality venue to see such a top quality act. We sat about mid-range in the viewing area, but our position was still aces.
The only thing you can say about Z-Trip is that he plays everything and anything. He’s a friendly and engaging performer who speaks to his audience and clearly has as much fun as they are. He travels through all the genres, with lots of hip-hop and a litle house/electronic, but then also tonnes of other stuff, from Michael Jackson to Men at Work. Fun listening all the way, and if you’re keen it’s great to dance to as well.
To start the night, he had something special though. Clearly a big Barack Obama supporter, Z-Trip started the night with a special mix, putting Obama’s day-old inauguration speech audio in with some Daft Punk cuts to create a special “Yes We Can” remix. After years of seeing artists that couldn’t disguise their loathing for Bush (and were happy to share that with their foreign audiences), it was great to see the start of American musicians now happy with their country and their president again. No guarantee that will last of course, but we all know it will never get as intense as it did under Bush.
The only criticism of the night had nothing to do with Z-Trip — late in the show the crazies came out, with several people seriously cutting their feet from I presume broken glass — too much blood there — and a few drugged out nutters being pulled out of the venue. Then, typically for a week night, the show finished at 12.15am but I couldn’t get home until nearly 3am — we really need later trains on all nights, at least during the Sydney Festival.
But that was nothing to do with the show. Z-Trip is an exciting and entertaining DJ that plays my kind of music and does it with enjoyment and fun at the top of the agenda.