It was Bliss N Eso’s homecoming concert, and an hour out from doors opening, Enmore Road was already brimming with excitable punters. Every second passer-by was screaming “Bliss N Esoooooo!” like a call for hallelujah. With Zoo York t-shirts, hoodies and Australian flags abounding, the entire scene was itself near-religious.
The first act in a long line of supports were locals Mind Over Matter. Whilst entertaining the crowd with songs like Fun, Chicken and Green, they appeared amateurish and generic at times. A poor mix didn’t help them, but the crowd lapped it up all the same. Briton Motley followed, who seemed happy enough to even be here. His own brand of grime was infectious, albeit arrogant and largely unimaginative. Even with his constant, shameless self-promotion, the only negative audience response came from a tongue-in-cheek lyric on late Steve Irwin.
Phrase, with DJ Flagrant, came out soon after, and was first support to bring some professionalism to the stage. Singles Here Now and Clockwork went down a treat, as did a guest appearance by Jade McRae. His skill as an MC outshone both previous support acts and the audience were clearly in a good mood following. In comparison, final support Downsyde was met with a lukewarm response. Maybe it was pure restlessness for the main act, their funk-induced hip hop, or the omnipresent scent of weed in the air, but the crowd just wasn’t up for it, as great as their stage presence was.
However, after this mini-festival of supports, the crowd screamed as the lights dimmed and DJ Izm hit the decks. He kicked things off with the ferocity of a tiger, mixing and scratching up Welcome to the Jungle and Grinspoon’s Chemical Heart to surprisingly wild responses. As if awakening a sleeping giant, the 2,200-strong crowd went insane the second MC Bliss and MC Esoterik walked on stage. Opening with two early tracks from Day of the Dog, the trio was swept away with the crowd, who transformed nearly every song in their set into an anthemic sing-along.
Woodstock 2008, Bullet and a Target and Happy in my Hoodie (featuring two guest MCs) were all given a live treatment that few Australian hip hop artists could dream of. Both MCs continually thanked the crowd for giving them the “best crowd yet” as well as giving shout-outs to their family in the audience. A mid-set turntable mix from DJ Izm and Flagrant’s alter-ego the BMX Bandits as well a cover of Blueboy’s Remember Me didn’t dampen the mood.
It was unfortunate that the night had to end on a sour note with a testosterone-fuelled fist fight breaking out on the dance floor just as the main set came to a close. In response, the trio got the crowd into a refrain of “Peace, Love and Unity” during the encore. Despite the large police presence afterwards, it was clear to all in attendance that Bliss N Eso are among Australia’s hip hop elite.
