UK rap star AJ Tracey left fans buzzing after a sold-out show at The Triffid in Brisbane on Tuesday, supported by the local Day1. It was the final date of his rescheduled Australia tour after performing in Sydney and Melbourne last week.
Opening the night was Brisbane rapper Day1, who appeared wearing sunglasses and a loud tracksuit for his first song. An energetic set of bass-heavy trap songs with choppy flows and autotuned hooks compensated for the considerably short but punchy tracks. The crowd sang along to a sample of B.o.B’s “Airplanes” and another song was painfully restarted to create a pit, finishing with a pumping dance beat to get them hyped.
A mix of grime hits and 2010s classic hip hop kept punters’ attention in the hour-long wait between sets. Understandably on a Tuesday night, the crowd grew restless and disappointingly booed stagehands whenever they emerged to set up for the main act. Fans started chanting Thiago Silva to entertain themselves in the meantime, which quickly got annoying if you weren’t one of them.
Finally, AJ Tracey walked out to a big roar from the crowd in an All Stars jersey and snapback. He took a moment to explain that he wasn’t feeling 100%, but you wouldn’t have noticed apart from the restrained stage presence. His deft bars over booming trap beats were captivating, even if the flows lacked variation. Hits like “Anxious” and “Reasonable” got the crowd bouncing with their phones in the air video recording the entire night.
The London rapper addressed the negativity in the news before “Little More Love” and paid homage to his hometown with “Ladbroke Grove”. An acapella hook of “Rain” immediately caught on until fans pretty much performed it for him, demonstrating how obsessed they are with his catchy lyrics. A few features with the recorded guest verses left in the backing tracks were questionable but gave AJ a chance to catch his breath and admire the scene. The set ended somewhat abruptly without an encore, however most didn’t seem to mind.
While many songs sounded the same to this unfamiliar punter, the energy and crowd participation of the artists kept the sets engaging well into the night. This concluded the three-date Australia tour and for most was worth the wait.
