After nearly selling out their show at the Hordern in 2000 but disappointing their audience, Naughty by Nature hit our shores with a giant task ahead of them. Besieged at the last minute with problems of venue availability, the group also had the last minute decision to shift the show to Space to contend with. For the 90s hip hop superstar trio, recently turned duo, it was always going to be a big ask.

The show at the recently opened Space on the first floor of the Shark Hotel filled only about 1/3 of its capacity, but was nonetheless teeming with very enthusiastic Naughty fans, many of whom appeared to know all the words to most of their songs. On arriving, the first supporting act was an interesting combination of three MCs, a DJ and the bass player from the Cruel Sea. They gave a solid performance, however their set was kept relatively short and were replaced by a DJ. There were serious sound problems with the turntables, which became particularly apparent once the live act had finished.

Bliss n’ Eso then took over, exploding onto the stage. They succeeded in hyping up the crowd with some wicked beatboxing and shout-outs, and played a run of absolutely solid tracks. Their energetic performance was kept disappointingly short, with the group being only allowed to play four or five tracks. Unfotunately, it was to make way for a half hour set. Why Bliss n’ Eso didn’t play right up until Naughty appeared is beyond me. This time the DJ was accompanied by a particularly rank MC who achieved little more than annoying the warmed-up crowd with clichéd shout-outs like Louder, Louder, Say Ho and Everybody make some noise, to which nobody responded. Overall, the supporting acts could have benefited from some more effective organization, perhaps with Bliss n’ Eso playing for an hour instead of switching acts.

The crowd appeared relatively bored by the time Naughty appeared. Blasting onto the stage with their first major hit O.P.P., Treach and Vinnie (minus their producer who recently left the group) seemed anxious to make up for their half-hearted performance at the Hordern. With O.P.P as their first track, it was clear that the group was trying hard to impress. This was followed by some kind of Naughty medley, in which a run of their early nineties hits were played, including Break-a Break-a Dawn, Craziest and Everything’s Gonna Be Alright. The crowd absolutely dug this, however Naughty was pretty much preaching to the converted after all. They then switched to a silkier, more RnB influenced style. As none of the tracks here were recognizable as past hits so I can only assume these were from their new album Iicons. The ending song was, predictably, Hip Hop Hooray, which was well received. Unfortunately by this stage it was clear that there would be no encore as all their major tracks had been played.

The performance was of far higher quality than that of the Hordern, but I couldn’t help feeling somehow that Naughty were merely trying to cash in on the return of the old skool phenomenon that nineties stars like Public Enemy, De La Soul and early pioneers like Bambaataa seem to be embracing. From this gig, it is pretty clear that Naughty don’t quite have the same flamboyance as they used to. It is unlikely that there will be another year quite like Nineteen Naughty Three in the future.