FUCKING FLYING

360/ Hermitude/ Bam Bam
Villa
Friday, June 22, 2012

“Shoosh Cunt” hoodies, 360 snap backs (worn by dudes AND chicks) and Nike shoes filled Villa from wall to wall as hip hop lovers, tweenage booty, bogans, old school 360 lovers and new fans swarmed Villa for a night dedicated to Aussie hip hop’s hottest name right now – outspoken Melbourne rapper Matt Colwell, aka 360.
    Warming up the stage super early in the evening was up and coming Melbourne MC Bam Bam who has been creating a buzz with his reworks of Hermitude, Flume, Delphic, Pretty Lights and more. Similar to 360 in his stage set up, Bam Bam got the already large crowd gathered on the d-floor head-bumping and torso grinding. The perfect support for 360, Bam Bam was charismatic and fits into the category “be so good they can’t ignore you”.
    With adrenaline pumping through the crowd as Bam Bam finished up his set and the lads from Elefant Traks and Luke Dubs and Elgusto of Sydney duo Hermitude plugged in equipment and took over the reigns, one couldn’t help wondering whether their forthcoming set would be appreciated by a predominantly 360-loving crowd. Kicking off with the appropriate intro The Lion Sleeps Tonight from The Lion King, Dubs and Elgusto had the crowd in the palm of their hands from the get go.
Having released their incredible fourth record HyperParadise in February, the lads smashed out instrumental beats complete with some epic scratching, MPC action and keyboard madness. Popular tunes HyperParadise, badass The Villain and Speak Of The Devil got the crowd pumping but the response from the audience was short of what Hermitude deserved. Hermitude are one of the best hip hop acts in Australia releasing brilliant work – respect to 360 for getting the boys on board for his The Flying Tour.
    Since releasing his sophomore record Falling & Flying last year, 360 has shot to the top of the charts, festival lineups and his name is on the tip of everyone’s tongues. Accompanied by his DJ and fellow collaborator and tour support Bam Bam for his set, 360 set the bar sky high for his energetic and straight-talking set kicking off with the grimey, catchy Killer. Smothered in tattoos and donning black Ray-Bans (which he later took off, thank god – who wears sunglasses in nightclubs? Fuck off), ’60 doesn’t have the same ‘jump around’ enthusiasm as the likes of the Hoods or Drapht but he’s compelling and captivating to watch.
    Of course, with any 360 show, there’s a few dickheads. About five minutes into his set, 360 found himself telling a couple of fight-starters to “fuck off”. It wasn’t long before the crowd joined in and the set-disturbers were removed by security. It was like a giant sing-a-long for the duration of his set with the majority of 360’s lyrics bouncing off the walls of Villa as the entire crowd joined in on the chorus of Meant To Do, shouting “What the fuck am I meant to do?” and “When I was just a child, I didn’t know much about ya” during Child.
    Hammer Heard saw all hip hop arms in the air bouncing and a mixed crowd reaction occured when Victorian songstress Gossling made an appearance on popular track Boys Like You. But it was Just Got Started and album title track Falling & Flying which had the crowd in a euphoric state, limbs thrashing and loving life. Even 360 acknowledged the madness that surrounded him: “You’ve officially topped Adelaide, best show on the tour so far.” And you believe him because he’s 360 and he puts on a fucking grand show.