“There ain’t no party like a Terra Firma party, coz a Terra Firma party don’t stop.” One lyric from the new album’s lead single perfectly summed up a rocking launch, one of the best shows Adelaide has seen this year. Now, I’m not going to pretend I’m not a massive fan of the new album, or that I haven’t been a Terra Firma fan for a long time. However, favouring the act sometimes works as a negative, as expectations are raised for the quality of an event. Thankfully, alongside around 1000 fellow Adelaide residents, these expectations were met – if not exceeded.
There is always some degree of trepidation when you attend an event at our largest regularly-used venue HQ. Simply due to the fickle nature of fans you never know which acts will pull and which will flop. I imagine this is greatly magnified for the act headlining the night so I, as I’m sure Terra Firma were, beamed a smile when upon my arrival the line stretched down the block and around a corner. Entering around half an hour after doors opened, the venue was rocking already. A good crowd gave the vibe it was going to be a great night.
The night was to be a relentless selection of live acts, intertwined with some excellent DJ sets from Kylie, Kirk and Shep. First live act was the Battlehoggs. The decks were torn a new one, as Adroit Effusive, Common Cause and K21 showed the absolute class of the Adelaide scene. Second up on the evening were the recently off-hiatus sounds of After Hours. The Certified Wise crew made a triumphant return to live performances back in April and it was great to see them on stage again. This set featured chunks of material from the Darker Days EP, which it seems the boys have also found new energy for.
By this stage the venue was pretty well full and rocking. There was a real buzz and a friendly face wherever you went. Clearly Adelaide was out in full effect to support one of their favourite groups. I caught BVA and The Lost Evidence for the first time at the Muph & Pluto show a couple of weeks back and thought there was definitely potential for it to work and his performance to a full HQ further emphasised this. Some people don’t get into BVA’s flow but you cannot argue with his ability to work a crowd until they are all on his side. I myself as a fan of his work am most definitely looking forward to seeing where he takes the live band aspect.
I hadn’t seen Vents perform since early February, so it was a pleasure to see him hitting the stage accompanied by Mr. Trials and ripping through all of the tracks that made his debut Hard To Kill one of last year’s must own records. The sheer energy or urgency if you will of his delivery translates perfectly to the live arena. Following on from Vents was Adelaide’s party rocking king – the one and only Staen 1. Nobody rocks a party like Staen rocks a party and as always he had the crowd eating out of his hand with his trick-laden set.
The time had come for the act everyone had been waiting to see: Dyems on the decks, Raph A L, Mic Lez and Simplex on the mics accompanied by live instrumentation on stage: it was Terra Firma’s time to shine. Shine is exactly what they did. They were ridiculously energised as they hit the stage. You could almost feel their excitement at finally getting to perform some new music five years on from their last release. There was still time to chuck in classic tracks like The Night The Heavens Cried, but this was the Music To Live By launch and it was tracks from the new album that shone. When C Rayz Wallz filled the place of Percee P for Hall Of Fame the track lost nothing (the appearance of C Rayz on stage earlier also an unadvertised highlight). Then, when Certified Wise filled the stage four times over for Wiseguys, the venue roared. There was little left to do except for encore number We Likes To Party (both Adelaide and Terra Firma clearly do).
Having thrashed the album on repeat and now having seen the tracks in the live arena, there is no doubt in my mind that the next twelve months should belong to Terra Firma. They have the sound for radio play without compromising themselves. All it is going to take is some program director taking a chance and Terra Firma will achieve massive things.
NeeTz says...
Awesome review to follow an awesome night!!