- Legend or lost it?
Sydney played host to a jaw-dropping line-up on Saturday, with Carl Cox, Cypruss Hill and Freq Nasty all performing at the Sydney Showgrounds. A line-up as prolific as this had expectations running high, with hundreds of music lovers travelling across state to catch glimpse of the musical legends.
A well-respected figure in the dance music scene, Carl is currently travelling the globe promoting his aptly named new mix-album , Global. He has entertained crowds with his distinctive House/Techno sound for over 20 years now, also pioneering the use of 3 decks in his mammoth sets. However, DJ/Record Label Owner/Promoter/Award winner/All round Mr Nice guy, UK born Carl failed to impress at his show on Saturday. A mixture of bad sound (terrible reverb and volume issues in the main arena), bad organisation and to be absolutely honest, bad mixing, all contributed to an under par performance from the turntable wizard. On no less than 5 occasions did his mixing seem simply awful, clanging the mix like a bedroom DJ amateur, and talking to the crowd like one too. "Everybody having a good time!" he exclaimed every half an hour on the mic. Well no, not really thanks. Giving credit to Mr Cox though, he always looked like he was enjoying himself, and he is by far the best DJ to hype up the crowd. Seeing him go crazy behind the decks to a massive track still shows us he has a deep-rooted love for his music, and it certainly rubs of on the clubbers. Maybe he was just jet-lagged, or "not up for it", or had simply been hanging with the Cypruss Hill crew backstage for too long... It's a shame as this could have been so good - Instead it was just average.
Saving the day however, brilliant performances from Freq Nasty and Cypruss Hill contributed to a good evening. Freq Nasty was the first of the headliners on stage, playing a deep and dirty breaks set that failed to disappoint. The NZ born dredlocked star got the crowd going with tracks like 'Knights of the Jaguar' and the 'Amped/"Bring The Noise' mashup. Yet again though, the production of the event was crass, with a vocal house mix CD being played whilst the stage had to be re-arranged after his set. VOCAL HOUSE? After a dirty breaks set, and preceding none other than hip hop legends, Cyprus Hill, I was amazed at the choice and left with question marks over my head about the whole event.
Cypruss Hill eventually bound onto stage with an energy and enthusiasm I haven't seen for a very long time. The LA born rap stars haven't been to Ozzie shores for over 10 years, and kicked off the show with the track 'We ain't goin out like that' whilst simultaneously a giant budda was inflated on stage. Brilliant. They really did have the crowd eating out of their hand, performing track after classic track with such drive and professionalism. The bass heavy sound system muffled allot of the vocals at first, but thankfully this was adjusted and they sounded spectacular. In true superstar style Cypruss enjoyed some crowd surfing, as well as smashing up the drum kit after their last song - Even the undercover police in the crowd couldn't help but raise a smile.
Defiantly the highlight of an average show in Sydney.