Review: Lupe Fiasco @ BDO
It’s been a week of full-blown no holds barred ridicaliss-ness in Sydney. Not least at the Big Day Out, where as you cannot fail to see, Mr Lupe Fiasco attracted an impressive crowd despite the insane Sydney heat. The motley audience of rockers, hip hoppers, indie hipsters, and those shirtless guys with sombreros, were blessed with one of the most energetic and euphoric sets this long-time festival head has ever seen, complete with crowd sing-alongs, shirt-ripping, slamming guitar solos, and of course a dose of hip hop flavoured moshing (this was the Big Day Out, after all).
Crowd favourites and Lupe staples like “The Instrumental”, “Superstar”, and “Kick, Push” were bolstered by material so fresh that Monday night’s Enmore crown hadn’t even had time to upload it to You Tube yet. And if tracks like “State Run Radio” and “Scream” are anything to go by, the upcoming and so-agonisingly-anticipated “Lasers” will showcase the electric and undeniably infectious energy of a Lupe set, articulating the frustrations and disillusionments of the past few years through a punchier sound than that of the previous albums while still retaining the element of quirk and off-beat funkiness that has always set Mr Fiasco apart from his contemporaries.
It hasn’t been an easy ride for Lupe, but one thing he has always been able to count on is his loyal and passionate fan base, whose determination to see their man continue to grow and flourish as an artist is rewarded tenfold with the quality of show that Lupe delivers. His own evident appreciation of the love positively pulsing out of the audience back to him creates a mood that can only be described – sorry, Mos – as ecstatic. And judging by the reaction of some of the less Fiasco-familiar members of the crowd to the love-fest between Lu and his be-lu-vers (see what I did there?), the party is only going to get bigger.
