The thing puts you off-guard seeing Big Boi isn’t his skill as a lyricist, or the sheer breadth of hit songs are at his disposal. It’s seeing how effortless he makes it all look. 20 years into the game anything could have happened, he easily could have lost interest in the whole hustle of the touring and recording like Andre 3000 appears to have, but at the Metro, he was on-form settling into a highly polished set.
Baro had the challenge of opening to a small crowd in where only one person was seen admitting to knowing who he was. Accompanied by Joyride on the decks, they took kindly to the anonymity taking it as a complete no-pressure situation, settling into a laid-back set. Baro showed developing ability as a lyricist his chilled laidback drawl a nice low key way to warm up. He is still just short that big single to really grip a crowd that’s never heard of him.
Opening his set with the rapid-fire spray of “Da Next Day” Big Boi didn’t take long to settle into his groove. The setlist followed closely to the one he has been playing across this of his tour. This led to a tight and streamlined set that packed about 20 songs into an hour. The sequencing was smartly organized. Focusing on new album Boomiverse and dispersing it through a bunch of Outkast classics.
The Outkast songs came through in fine form, the audience filled in the gaps on “Ms Jackson” and, “So Fresh, So Clean” a mid-set highlight with “B.O.B” and “The Way You Move” dropping towards the end. Tracks from Boomiverse held their own, “Chocolate”, “All Nite” and “Kill Jill” earning every bit as much love as any of the classics on the night. Their funk-infused party tempo keeping the setup always upbeat. “Kill Jill” used arresting background imagery, with an animated Geisha’s face melting and reforming in the background.
In the smaller confines of the Metro you could really appreciate his skill as a performer, despite the rapid speed of his lyricism he never seemed breathless or flustered. He executed some well-choreographed dance moves and kept working hard to hype the crowd throughout all the call and response moments. That he moved through all this so smoothly was a testament to the mastery of his craft.
The reviewer attended the show on the 14th of March 2018 at the Metro Theatre in Sydney.
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