Trinity Block Party @ Trinity, Canberra (1/06/07)

January 6 was the 6th birthday of Trinity bar and to reward loyal patrons, the much loved venue decided to throw a block party and licence the whole car park for just one night and then generously give all the proceeds to Oxfam.

With an impressive line-up of international acts and local veterans the night was destined to be a memorable one, boasting such names as Steve Lind, the Autobots, D’Opus & Roshambo, The Nextmen, Koolism and our beloved Dexter.

The day kicked of with a chilled out live funk soul hip-hop conglomerate of Australian artists which made for a very pleasant hot summer afternoon and a perfect introduction to what would become a wild night out. Some of these guys had only met a while before the performance but jammed like old friends.

The next set saw the likes of D’Opus and Roshambo with special guest MC Minky performing some of their own material from new EP The Question and fans were obviously excited to see Minky performing with these guys who bring their own unique lyrical style to Ausssie Hip-Hop. These two, talented artists in their own right are certainly making their mark in the Aussie scene as a duo.

The Nextmen from the UK kicked off at about 6pm and got the whole block moving with their crowd pleasing old-skool Hip-Hop tunes. These guys are obviously very comfortable with their sampling and skilfully use a whole load of different stuff to make some very catchy work with samples ranging from the Fugees’ ‘Ready or Not’ to that ‘For the love of money’ by the O’Jays to A Tribe Called Quest’s ‘Can I Kick it’. Nostalgic but new and just a little quirky – Refreshing!

At about this time a couple of beach balls and a blow up doll appeared in the pit and the crowd of around a thousand showed their energy by keeping all of these things airborne at least until dusk.

Following the Nextmen was Koolism. Word was these guys were going to “tear the roof” and they didn’t disappoint. After a brief sabbatical from performing in the Canberra music scene there was a palpable sense of excitement for their return. MC Hau was a familiar face onstage as MC for the block party but sighting Danielsan the crowd bustled in anticipation for the duo. As always MC Hau’s mix of casual rhymes and throw-down tongue twisters and Danielsan’s thick funky beats made for an awesome set.

Then came Dexter. Australia’s own genius butcher of anything he gets his hands on. Dexter likes to make his party sets a little different and he was definitely in furious party mode all night. He might just have played 8 years worth of tracks in a two hour set and with such demonic skill that you wonder a little whether there isn’t anything he couldn’t use and then tells the crowd “I’ll just play whatever I want” and everyone loves it. Once again Dexter showed that not only can he play anything but also everything.

12am came and the party retreated indoors to Trinity where the likes of Mikah Feedman, Steve Lind and Randy Watson kept the party kicking until the midst of the morning.

All in the all, the Trinity Block Party proved to be a roaring success, with thousands of dollars raised for Oxfam and a thousand eager punters gleefully awaiting the next installment. Here’s to more block parties in the hopefully not too distant future!