Live Review

Fire Night @ Black Bear Lodge

Wednesday night in the infamous Fortitude Valley, the sticky but loveable heart of Brisbane City's entertainment precinct. Weary travellers take refuge inside the air-conditioned confines of the Black Bear Lodge for a night of pure FIRE!!! And by fire we mean fat beats and dope rhymes courtesy of DBL Team, Kick Push PR & Strictly For The Heads.

The first act up tonight is newcomer Erik Sanders. Having only dropped a pair of singles so far, most of his set is fresh material, jumping between auto tuned love songs and turn up anthems. Vocally his style leans heavily on the modern trap sound, less words and each line spaced out for maximum effect between the beat. The beats are mostly slower tempo but all bangers, with much of the production supplied from locals ATHD. The floor was especially live for his crowd favourite 'Stunt', testing the strength and flex of the second story floor. Unfortunately the vocal mix in his backing tracks is so loud and compressed that it's difficult to hear his live mic for much of the set, but still it's early days for this performer and it's only up from here.

Kraznov takes over the decks as Erik leaves, spinning some appropriate new age hip-hop and future beats, keeping the vibe flowing as the next act prepares.

Travy P jumps up next, rocking through a mixed set ranging from chilled out stoner records to the upbeat trap bangers that get the crowd jumping. Travy is gracious enough to premiere a couple new tunes for us while he's at it, showing off some new sounds and directions to look out for in the (hopefully) near future. He comes across as a very loveable character, performing with great energy and charisma and cracking jokes between tracks. He finishes up the set on a high by inviting Erik Sanders back to stage to perform their unreleased collaboration track, which I can only assume is called 'I'm On The Way'. (I feel I should also shout out his vintage dirt speedway championship shirt from years gone by just because.)

Hitting the stage next is another relatively new act Velcro Raptor, the duo consisting of producer Inspired Insomniac and MC D.I.N. The aftermath of Travy P's set left the dance floor a little empty, but their first two tunes prove they mean business and the room is quickly packed once again. Their raucous party tunes turn the BPM up and drown the crowd in rolling bass, tapping more EDM styles to mix with hip-hop drums and D.I.N.'s bombastic rhymes. Also showing off a couple new unreleased tunes, these ones drawing more heavily on the soulful sample based style of hip-hop production, providing a good contrast to the dancier numbers. One thing I love about Velcro Raptor’s live set is Inspired Insomniac's use of the pitch shifted 'demonic' voice live, making any random comment between tracks something else entirely. This set also saw him stepping out from behind the boards to jump around a bit and even drop a few lines himself during one of the new tracks.

Last up for the night is Bedlam Records rising star Gallu$, whose live show has been gaining a bit of rep for crazy energy and antics both on and off the stage. Tonight’s performance does not disappoint in either factor. Decorated with warpaint, he emerges to a full house and quickly gets the place going crazy. Joined on stage by friend and collaborator De'Lysid Pict (formerly Term T), the two draw on their history in the punk/metal/hardcore scenes to deliver more energy, jumping around and even choking each other with the mic chords and still managing to spit the lyrics. The two go crazy for their track 'Basic Bitch' and the crowd reciprocates readily. Carmouflage Rose is also up on the stage for several tracks, including the banger and crowd pleaser 'Oakwood Floors'. By the end of the set half the crowd are up on stage dancing with them, bringing the first Fire Night to an appropriately hot and sweaty end.

Fire Night will return with another lineup next month at The Zoo.

- Daniel Coyne-Watego

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