We wander in and the Arena is bordering on a quarter full. Anti Omnia waltz on stage and the crew is astonishingly good looking and fresh, with an array of instruments at their disposal and wielding them with promise. The band blast into their first few songs, which are dripping with baritone sax and moody hip hop overtones. It doesn’t seem to be holding the attention of the punters, as there is plenty of milling around and buying of drinks and crowding in cliques. As the set progresses, the skilled guitar and the hardship storytelling style of the band gathers a band of interested attendees. Chris Bosley and Dave Atkins from Resin Dogs pop onstage to help out, and this warms the crowd up significantly. They capture our hearts with the floor above, which has dual saxophone and the whole band is extremely tight and entertaining. It’ll be interesting to see where this band heads in the future.

The crowd mill around for only a short amount of time before King Wrasse which is a sexy drum and bass dual outfit which includes the drummer from the upcoming Resin Dogs. We’re informed that this act is ‘just something they get together and play sometime in their spare time’. The pair attempt to motivate the crowd, and lift them from their comfortable convenient position in front of the bar. The bass grabs the attention of the punters and resonates through the beer swilling crowd. The duo blasts out Doctor Who-esque samples over silky bass which has the crowd confused, but interested. They launch into a song by Coolism that feels very progressive and experimental. The drummer is wildly punishing of his equipment, and to cap it off he has the sexiest man mullet in the world and as he introduces the next song, it gets everyone up and grooving, very upbeat and sexy. The final song of the set which seemed to be appreciated the most by the crowd has heavy sax and sounds very much like the theme song to the movie Snatch. The crowd is undulating and appreciative, the less flamboyant shuffling their feet, the more so flailing wildly to the heavy beats.

Mihirangi brings her contemporary soulful world roots and loops to the stage. She informs us that “everything is done live on stage and not just bloody karaoke”. The crowd seems a bit weary as the night is getting on (the sets are running 30 minutes behind) but interested in Miss Mihirangi’s fantastic beat boxing and looping of sounds. She sings a part, records it and loops it over the new sounds she is making, she does it seamlessly and with a wonderful degree of live finesse. In the spirit of the White Stripes, she makes a lot of noise for one person and has the crowd entertained with her beautiful voice and decent beat boxing. She plays her single No War , which is an excellent choice as it is very palatable in comparison to her other more complicated songs. The Maori Princess of funk offers something to the crowd that few of us has seen heard before and creates her own band sound. The crowd claps weakly as she introduces her last song and she informs us that “I’m fuckin’ working my fuckin’ arse off here, you can do better than that,” which motivates the crowd to applaud her intricately layered harmonies further. She wails emotively through her last song, with a backing of a solid baseline and a sensuous jazzy riff that has the crowd swaying sexily.

After a short wait, the crowd is chomping at the bit for everyone’s favorite cut and paste sample collective to deliver us some ritual dance sounds and hip hop via turn tables and excellent MC work. Chris Bosley, DJ Katch and Dave Atkins are the mainstay members, and with collaborations with some of the best in the industry, it proves to be a good night. The band blasts onto stage abruptly and everyone in the room is absolutely stoked. We are all informed that the band is going to “Turn it up for brissie and have something special for the home crowd”. The band has been touring extensively and seems weary, but excited to be playing to their local punters. The Dogs wield drums, a 3x brass ensemble, keyboards, guitar and of course the excellent DJ Katch. The song Definition of a Real MC has 3 MCs and one DJ (who were all getting down with no delay), and it’s just an amazing track. The MC from Coolism and the disastrously good looking MC from 1200 Techniques join the stage for this track, and it has the whole crowd jumping all over each other and pumping hands in the air, trying their best to get all the appreciation they can out in as many body movements. The song More is again, another brilliant track with multiple MCs bringing the crowd to orgasm. Cause and Effect is an excellent show of the backing band’s talent, and whips the crowd once again into a fever pitch.

The extra MCs leave the stage and it is announced that old songs are being brought back and the crew launches into Grand Theft Audio and Chris Bosley is bouncing around the stage like a hip hop possum, riling the crowd up with old school beats and rhymes. The end of the song descends into the band just making funky noise, and the crowd reflects this in their intense grooving. MC Blue Rock 13 comes out to do a song off his new album, which is funky and fantastic. He gets the crowd to join in with the song, and everyone obliges happily amongst random flailing of limbs. The Dogs round out the late night with a few favorites, including Set It Off and the final song has every guest on stage throwing everything they have at the appreciating crowd.

Funnily enough the crowd more than halved in size by the end of the set (perhaps due to lateness of the performance) but not missing out too much, as the set was consistently great all the way through. There isn’t a person in the room which isn’t funking out in their own little way, if it be giving the MCs a high five or just nodding heads furiously. This is the power of the Resin Dogs live set. A must see live act for all.