Touring off the back of the re-release of his enormous ‘Cinematic’ album of last year, and also coinciding with the release of his new single, ‘One For The City’ (hence why he’s touring the capital cities) Illy is in Brisbane tonight (Friday 5 December).
Illy brought the party to The Tivoli celebrating his successful year and made it one not to forget.
Proceedings kicked-off with horns announcing the arrival of fresh, new rapper Baro. With a laidback flow backed by light, soul-influenced beats, Baro’s old-school sound was a gentle way of easing everyone into the evening. He showed a mature style despite him only being fresh out of school, as he announced.
Soon after, the rave beats and sirens began for the second support. It was none other than rising Adelaide MC Tkay Maidza, who would get an endorsement from Illy during his set. With the swishing of her long locks and a delivery that could be compared to an AK47, it wouldn’t be a surprise to find Tkay was dripped-fed pure sugar.
Dropping bangers in every direction, including her next single, ‘Money Over Bitches’, her biggest moment was when she commanded the crowd to stomp our feet like the prehistoric giant of her hit single, ‘Brontosaurus’. I was glad to find that The Tivoli still had a floor afterwards.
Before Illy’s arrival, tour DJ Cam Bluff spun a selection of beats to pump up the crowd. DJ Bluff set a high benchmark for energy levels, but this was topped by Illy who only had to appear on stage to make the crowd explode with screaming pleasure.
Illy and DJ Bluff were joined by drummer Ben Ellingworth, and the trio began with the first single from the hit album ‘Cinematic’, ‘On And On’. This was soon followed by Illy’s joint with the Hilltop Hoods, ‘Coming Down’. While the Hoods weren’t present tonight, Illy more than made up for their absence by displaying enough energy to power Fortitude Valley for the entire evening.
Illy kept the hits rolling, including ‘Heard It All’ and the song that introduced most of Australia to him, ‘It Can Wait’. Illy once again paid tribute to his heroes – the Hilltop Hoods – along with many other Aussie icons by performing ‘Aussie Medley’, originally from triple j’s ‘Like A Version’.
Before disappearing from the stage the big guns were brought out for ‘Tightrope’. Illy could easily have taken a rest during this one because the sing-a-long from the crowd overpowered him.
Of course, the crowd weren’t finished with him and began chanting for an encore. And, much like Beetlejuice, Illy reappeared after his name was called enough times for a final encore.
The show finished with a lighters-in-the-air moment, as requested by Illy, of the title track from ‘Cinematic’.
As mentioned during his set, the first time Illy played Brisbane was to 30 inattentive people as an opener. Now, he’s filled The Tivoli and had them in the palm of his hand. Illy has worked hard and graduated to the big leagues.
