Peanut Butter Wolf is the owner of one of my favourite record labels Stones Throw Records. When his Australian tour was initially announced, Adelaide was missing and in the midst of looking at which city to visit to see him, FPP stepped up in organizing an Adelaide sideshow that was not to be missed. Sadly though it seems, nobody in Adelaide felt the same way.

The location for the nights musical showcase was the smaller upstairs room at HQ currently dubbed Gabrielles. It had been a number of years since I ventured up the stairs and the room has been given a really nice fit-out, it’s view out over North Terrace from the smokers balcony a nice added bonus. With Peanut Butter Wolf’s set being that of the audio visual kind, one wall of the venue featured a huge screen with images being projected across it all night. Although doors had been open for a couple of hours already the room was largely dead, Snair teaming with Funkwig to pull off some crazy ‘Turntable MPC’ action to finish his set. Next up was Delta who spun a classic array of funk and soul mixed with a smattering of hip hop, as those of us in the venue posed the question to each other: where the hell is everyone? Sure it was a long weekend but Peanut Butter Wolf is a pretty big name worldwide, although his music is firmly wedged in the underground I’m sure most people with a degree of interest in hip hop have heard of him.

Sadly this wasn’t a night for late arrivals to make the party rock, and it was a case of a dedicated small crew there from start to end. Taking over from Delta was Staen 1 who played one of his signature rocking party sets full of tricks, it was a little odd however to see a DJ who thrives on crowd energy and interaction playing to a mostly empty room content to chill and bob their heads in appreciation. As Peanut Butter Wolf stepped up to the decks the clock had ticked past 1am, and although the crowd were happy to sit back and survey the visuals instead of dancing, all there were appreciative of the set. It was excellent to hear tracks such as Triumph by the Wu Tang, All I Need by Method Man and various Tribe joints whilst watching their perfectly synched film clips. The set wasn’t revolutionary or jaw droppingly skillful, but it was entertaining from start to end.

I don’t know where you were Adelaide but lets hope the low crowd numbers were merely a blip on the radar.