There’s been a British invasion of sorts going on in Australia lately. Maybe it’s the summer they’re coming here for, but I guess we’ve been pretty lucky to have the likes of Muse, The Streets and Lily Allen grace our shores in the past few months. Add to that list Lady Sovereign, the pocket dynamo from Wembley, London who came to perform at the Forum at Fox Studios for the first time on Saturday night.

Arriving at Moore Park around 8.30pm, I was surprised to see a pretty decent turn out for that early in the night. It seemed the uniform of the evening consisted of a simple t-shirt, tracksuit pants and hoodies. Lots of hoodies. It’s a testament to her pulling power the way that this girl, who has in the past been described as a ‘chav’, was able to influence Sydney fashion for this one night. Despite this the crowd was still a very mixed bag, with people young and old coming to hear Sovereign do her thing. A lot of people got there early to stake out their spots right at the front of the dance floor.

The Modular DJ started the night off with a bit of party hip hop. He dropped faves from Run DMC, Arrested Development, Kelis and even a bit of Warren G to get the party going. Whilst he did have a good selection of records, his mixing ability left a lot to be desired. Rather than mixing the tracks together in a cohesive way, it seemed like he simply lined up the tracks and slammed the cross fader over. But at least he knew what tracks the crowd would dig, and lap it up they did. Next up was Kato and he too had a good selection of tunes, switching between both vinyl and CD’s. He brought a vast array of hip hop, beats and electro. While he wasn’t as cheesy as the Modular DJ, he still got the crowd well into the groove.

I ventured a trip to the bar and was surprised to read the set times. Not only was Lady Sovereign not on until midnight (this I was fine with), but she was only scheduled to play for an hour. At $50 a ticket this seemed a little unfair, but judging from the turn out this didn’t seem to bother the punters one bit. After this I went upstairs to kick back for a while, and was actually entertained by a couple getting mighty ‘frisky’ with each other on one of the couches. The girl was straddling the guy and showing off what appeared to be her stripper moves, arching her back so much that she tumbled backwards onto the floor at one point, much to the amusement of onlookers. But I digress, I wasn’t there to watch people make out: I was there to hear some quality music.

The Bumblebeez took to the stage next, and I can’t say I’ve ever been a real fan. I remember when they first burst onto the scene a few years ago through Triple J’s Unearthed competition, but I hadn’t really heard much from them in the last 12 months or so. They actually played some decent beats, which was overshadowed by lead singer Chris Colonna carrying around on stage like a crazed maniac. Luckily his sister Pia was there to deliver a charismatic stage presence in his wake. While they had an accessible hybrid hip hop/rock/electro sound, Chris’ incoherent screams on the microphone were more like ramblings than anything else, seeming like an attempt on his part to drown out all sound. There was something about the way he carried himself that came across as a little contrived, but he nonetheless showed his talent through taking control of some of the synthesizer sounds and even playing drums for their last song. But his stage antics overshadowed what could have been a good performance: it’s going to be his over-exaggerated jumping around on stage that is remembered rather than any musicality.

By 11.30pm the punters were getting restless in anticipation. Ro Sham Bo had the task of entertaining the crowd and they played a combination of funk, soul and everything in between, also throwing copies of their CD out into the crowd like they were frisbees. An hour later and they were still at it, leading to a flashback on my part of that night at Luna Park when Busta Rhymes didn’t turn up, leaving one angry mob as a result. Fortunately this moment of déjà vu didn’t play out like I thought it might.

Bouncing onto the stage with her band, Louise Harman had the crowd in the palm of her hand from the word go and no one really cared that they’d waited that extra half hour for her to come on. Clad in jeans, trainers, big white sunglasses and, surprise surprise, a hoodie, she kicked off with Ch Ching and the crowd went nuts. Telling the crowd to “make some fucking noise in this bastard”, everyone obeyed without question. The self confessed ‘biggest midget in the game’ (displayed proudly on her t-shirt underneath her hoodie) had arrived.

It only took one comment before she had won me over completely. Guzzling beer from a bottle and drinking shots of Jagermeister, she asked the Sydney crowd “what the fuck was up with tight short shorts.” Displaying utter disgust with this very Sydney fashion trend, she said she’d prefer it if people went naked rather than bering subjected to that. And with that, I was instantly a devoted fan: Lady Sovereign told it like she saw it, showing the brutal honesty that has won her legions of fans around the globe.

Running through most of her hits, including Hoodie, 9 to 5 and Those Were The Days, she had the crowd singing along with every song and hanging on her every word. Someone threw a t-shirt on stage with a photo of Britney Spears and the word ‘Slut’ underneath. This amused Lady Sovereign, who said while she felt sorry for Britney, admittedly she did look like a slut in that photo. At only 21 years of age, Sovereign already seems like a seasoned performer. Her interaction with the crowd was refreshing, and quite different to what I expected. She left the stage after a cover of the Sex Pistols’ Pretty Vacant, but the crowd’s chant of “S-O-V” brought her back for Love Me Or Hate Me and Public Warning.

In the end, Lady Sovereign thanked the crowd and told them she “fucking enjoyed that.” And I believed every word she said. For a performer to win me over after just one performance takes something special, but she managed to do exactly that: to the point where I even forgot how damn long it took for her to hit stage. This little midget really was larger than life.