Joining the throng to power-walk over the bridge to Etihad Stadium, we look up at a Southern Cross train timetable screen and there’s one going to Marshall, which is enough to elevate excitement levels. If only there was also a train destination called Mathers! Kendrick Lamar takes the stage and looks immaculate in a streamlined khaki hooded coat, which is probably Gucci, and immediately it’s all hands in the air. He’s backed by a handful of live musicians and it’s refreshing to see Lamar’s dapper fashion style challenge the usually ultra-casual hip hop uniform. Swimming Pools (Drank) hits us with those ominous beats and by the chorus it’s a mass sing-along: “Pool full of liquor, then you diiiiiive in it.” Fuckin’ Problems (A$AP Rocky ft 2 Chainz, Drake and Kendrick Lamar) gets an airing and the song is fierce even though it’s only one quarter of the OG rappers supplying the flow. Lamar is all about the bitches and Bitch, Don’t Kill My Vibe follows shortly after. When Lamar says “fly”, it sounds fresh and there’s definitely demand for a solo headline tour. Kendrick Lamar is as regal as his name suggests.
Eminem Rapture 2014 :: Melbourne/Australia, Etihad Stadium
Eminem’s live backing band are fit to back Prince, all elevated on rostra so as not to get in the way of the rapper’s frenetic pacing and rhyme spitting. The bass player sports a camo “Slim Shady Vs Everyone Else” t-shirt (want!). And they don’t call this front stalls section the Lose Yourself zone for nothing! Eminem is an unparalleled, hip hop character actor and his tone ranges from very angry white guy to raging psycho killer as perfectly demonstrated during Criminal. With a penetrating gaze, Eminem’s hands often form finger guns while he gesticulates and those middle fingers get a constant workout. His offsider Mr Porter brings some personality, but Eminem remains in the zone with eyes bulging like an albino axolotl. If they remake a film version of A Clockwork Orange, Eminem is a shoe-in for Alex.
After Kill You – “You don’t/Wanna fuck with Shady/’Cause Shady/Will fuckin’ kill you” – there are sampled gun shots that make us jump out of our collective skin. Surprisingly, no punters hit the deck. Eminem still wears his Carhartt three quarter-length beige cargos well with his black cap pulled firmly down over his ears. And he raps so fast live (case in point: Rap God) that we can’t help but imagine how many Big Macs he enjoyed during that competition where if you listed all the ingredients – “two all-beef patties…” – within three seconds you’d score yourself a free burger.
There’s plenty of satisfying old skool offerings as well, My Name Is and Without Me transporting us back to a time when the general public found Eminem shocking beyond belief. The Way I Am takes on extra resonance live – Eminem performing with added vitriol. Em is still an angry unit. In complete contrast, Lighters (with its Bruno Mars hook) comes off as twee. Love The Way You Lie could’ve at least had RiRi reprazenting via some visuals, although Eminem’s backing vocalist does a better job than Rihanna on the hook and then successfully matches Dido’s timbre during Stan. We’re right there beside Stan, but then it turns strangely anticlimactic to close. The Real Slim Shady’s “Two trailer park girls go ‘round the outside…” intro really is genius although some of Eminem’s newer fans might struggle with the celeb references here.
Eminem’s interpretative dance while Mr Porter introduces his bandmates is priceless and Em still has so much energy at the tail end of this one-and-a-half hour set. His Lose Yourself encore is word-perfect – “OH!/There goes gravity!” – and at least we can attempt to rap along at this pace. Eminem is the real deal: “Why be a king, when you can be a god?”
