Posted by Danni Le Toullec on June 2, 2011
Walking into one of Odd Future’s three sold out gigs at Sydney Opera House’s Studio, I spotted a few elderly patrons and I couldn’t help but cringe for what they were about to witness.
Offensive, degrading, sexist, violent. These are a few words that have been used to describe a group that came out of relative obscurity in early 2010. In their first Australian appearance as part of the Modular programmed Vivid LIVE line-up, the massively hyped group are indeed pushing many buttons.
Following months of free releases, mixtapes, videos and Tyler’s self-released Bastard in 2010, the group is almost making Eminem look like Sesame Street. But the funny thing is as much as people complain about the shocking content of their lyrics, it is clear that the profanities have little to no meaning. After all the spitting, swearing, the umpteenth chant of “Suck My Dick” and the countless middle fingers thrown up to the crowd, it barely warrants a mention. All of this slamming against a relentless bassline that was so loud it could have (and very well may have) ruptured a few eardrums.
The hyped up swarm in the moshpit absolutely loved it. From the second Tyler the Creator exploded onto stage in his green goblin mask, the crowd was his. Chants of “Wolf Gang” and “Free Earl” pulsed repetitively as hands were raised in salute.
Tube socks pulled high and a wolf smiling malevolently on his T-shirt, Tyler moseyed on and off the stage throughout the night. The remaining five members of his wolfpack that made it to Australia were left to spit out tracks. (Earl Sweatshirt, Frank Ocean, Jasper Dolphin, Taco Bennett, Matt Martians and Hal Williams sat this one out.)
Syd the Kyd, the groups’ only female, manned the decks with ease as she mouthed all the lyrics from behind a relaxed grin. Mike G carried much of the show along with Domo Genesis who ran around the stage with a towel on his head and at some points sat on the floor, shouting out ‘Bap Bap’.
Between members of OFWGKTA throwing their bodies into the crowd and punters following suit, the bouncers had their hands full. As he introduced ‘Yonkers’ as the song that made him “a looooot of money”, Tyler kicked off his shoes and launched into the crowd in his socks, and continued rapping until he surfaced a few minutes later, barefoot.
Refusing joints that were thrown to the stage saying “We don’t want no Sydney weed, we’re from fucking California”, OFWGKTA is rude and obnoxious and this is one of the main reasons magazines love to write about them. They even convinced Sydney streetpress, The Brag, to create a one-off edition titled "The Swag" in their honour.
As they continually tell us, they really don’t give a fuck. They will stop a show if they feel like it (as Billboard unfortunately found at a SXSW showcase at Buffalo Billiards earlier this year). They will take five minutes to stop the music and cuss out someone who has thrown a bottle. Left Brain will tell this person “I’ll beat you the fuck up” twenty times in a row. They will smack people in the front row across the face.
In a music climate where everyone is a shiny packaged product of a music company, this is the very element that attracts so many people. It is the chaos. It is the unpredicitability. It is music journalism porn. As much as some will love to hate them, they are a group of people barely out of their teens, that have the world watching their next move.
Big ups to the dude who has Tyler’s socks! And to the always swagical Halfway Crooks DJs - Captain Franco and Levins who played before and after the gig in the Vivid Pop Up bar - The Sony Lounge.
odd future, tyler the creator, ofwgkta, vivid live, vivid sydney, sydney opera house, halfway crookes