At the last minute, decided to hit the city and go to the fundraiser for Amnesty International at the Metro Theatre. I'd already forgotten what the venue was called in the transitional period. Lots of hip hop and a bit of breaks and drum and bass, I'm there mainly for Koolism and the Bird. When I turned up, the turnout was a bit sad. In there main room there was only half a dozen people at most, lounging around to the dj playing some hip-hop/reggae.
Someone there talked me into filling in some petition to protest the American policy of "rendition" and all those secret flights. It all felt futile, but I did it anyway.
First live act of the night was Foreign Heights, featuring Maya Jupiter and MC Trey. Local female rappers from the original Mother Tongues crew shooting off Triple J hip hop show was quite good at hyping the near empty crowd. Despite the lack of punters, they did manage to get some people moving along.
The next act was another live hip-hop thing whose name I didn't catch. One ace dj delivering some mad turntable skills, one boy rapper that was rather ordinary. Then midway through their set, a tiny little girl rapper got on stage. She was a bit of a pocket dynamo, coming on with an extended spoken word bit that made everyone in the room pay attention. Wish I knew what her name was, she was something special.
Third act Percussion Junction was a breath of fresh air. Three persons on various forms of percussion (surprise surprise!) plus one on turntable. This probably got the most people dancing, with their energetic mix of tribal, breaks and hard house styles. Maybe I got it all wrong, for I too was frustrated with the initial lull in dancefloor action. So as soon as something danceable was available, I, like many others, switched my critiquing brain off and just danced danced danced. Who knows what really was played. The point was somewhere amongst the writhing bodies, not on stage.
The Bird actually failed to top this, as by now the crowd was starting to thin out. It didn't help that there really wasn't much to hold people there in the time in between. By the time the Bird were ready, the damage was already done. The Bird themselves didn't help matters either. This wasn't exactly a vintage, mind-blowing set. The atmosphere was thinning, my legs were tiring, no matter how you twist it around, drum'n bass will always be difficult and not to everyone's tastes. By the time it was over, the room felt very sparse. I, personally, didn't care a damn bit! I just went upfront and danced the night away. Danced till my legs couldn't support me any longer. By then, it was late, and public transport required me to call it a night. So I'll have to catch Koolism another time.