The weather got the better of Listen Out in Melbourne. 80km/h winds forced the temporary closure of the main stage and continued to blow a gale against stage screens and crowds.
JPEGMAFIA’s glitchy-graphics swung in the breeze, like a cable was loose. Clocking on for both DJing and performance duties, the American rapper’s set was bare and hamstrung by rain and technical difficulties.
After calls for help went unanswered during his set, the source of the tech crew’s distraction turned out to be the main stage caught in a sandstorm—the stage was smack-bang on the beach. JPEGMAFIA was thankful for the turnout and the audience turning up for a performance you could tell he wasn’t happy with.
With the stage closure, Wafia did not get to perform her scheduled set.
Breakout British rapper slowthai, and his support Kwes, produced an incredible slot. The ever courteous and coy rapper, dressed down to his slowthai branded jocks at one stage, invited a sign-wielding fan on stage. The punter, Adrian, laid bare every word to ‘Inglorious’ perfectly.
Denzel Curry joined for his new track with slowthai, ‘Psycho’, before retiring for the day citing voice issues. JPEGMAFIA also returned for joyous bars.
With confusion about the main stage, punters crashed fences in front of police to reach the other, sparser, side of the festival plot. Crossing the small cattle bridge, the crowd could finally spread out over the sand.
Schoolboy Q performed a good range of his discography for a huge crowd, though he didn’t really have enough time to dig in.
Diplo proved his worth with an extended set. A master, he mashed hits like “Kernkraft 400” by Zombie Nation, and “Truth Hurts” by Lizzo. The crowd jeered to turn the volume up, another issue that plagued the day. Probably because of council restrictions, or perhaps the wind blew that away too.
Flume, currently on a homecoming tour of sorts, started his set spray-painting “Hi this is Flume”. He was the glue of today’s lineup, having collaborations with both slowthai and JPEGMAFIA.
Flume treated the crowd to a live performance of “Never Be Like You”, and his new song “Rushing Back” with Vera Blue joining him onstage. During their live rendition, he potted some plants. He’s undoubtedly in the experimental period of his career.
Reviewed by Darby-Perrin Larner
Photo from Listen Out Socials
