Live Review: Common, Talib Kweli, Charlie Bucket

Three weeks ago, Perth was going to miss out on Talib Kweli and Common's Australian tour. At the last moment, the promoter cancelled the Brisbane stop, and moved it over to the west coast.

Charlie Bucket was on the ones and twos spinning a selection of classic conscious hip hop for early arrivals.  The early start time for the show resulted in a smaller than expected crowd, but by the time Talib Kweli burst onto the stage to the sounds of Upper Echelon, it was like a crowd materialised out of thin air.

There is a reason Brooklyn native Kweli is considered an MC's MC. Over two decades in the game, he can still spit fire, with complex multisyllabic rhymes thrown at the crowd at breakneck speed. Tracks from his solo albums like Never Been In Love and Get By had the crowd singing along, but it was the Blackstar tracks that really got the biggest response. The crowd shouted out "One, two, three, Mos Def and Talib Kweli" to Definition and chanted the mantra "With that what? (Knowledge of self) Determination" from K.O.S. (Determination).

This however wasn't just a party set. Both of these artist are known for their socially conscious message, and Kweli took breaks to call for all present to live a life of positivity and to never ignore injustice when it crosses your path. He paused to acknowledge artist who game before him like Nina Simone, Harry Belafonte, Prince and Phife Dawg, taken from us too soon.

A quick changeover and then the opening chords to The People filled the club. In a burst of white light Common took to the stage, aggressively working the crowd and pacing back and forth in front of his band until everyone in the club was packed in front.

Common had the crowd eating out of his hand, mixing poetry, spoken word, singing and rhymes. Tracks like The Corner, The Food and U, Black Maybe had the crowd dancing with their arms in the air, but when Kweli returned to the stage and performed Blackstar's Respiration, the crowd exploded.

Common pulled a fan on stage (Sheree from New Zealand) to serenade her, calling her a Black Queen before launching into an extended freestyle on her beauty. She was constantly fanning herself with a look that seemed she would faint from happiness at any moment.

And like that Common was gone. Screams for an encore brought the band out for a performance of Resurrection and an extended cut of It's Your World. Slowly the band left one by one, until finally the keyboardist played the last few notes before the stage faded to black.