Splendour In The Grass Review: Azealia Banks

July 31, 2012

Sludging through the heavy mud to the Mix Up Tent for the dirty stylings of American rapper Azealia Banks, I wasn’t really sure what to expect. With the cunt-laden 212 dominating the airways, Miss Banks was one of the more hyped acts to watch out for. Personally I’ve always found her beats more enthralling than her lyrics and was interested to see how she would translate her show live. With Australia’s favourite house party DJ Nina Las Vegas successfully warming the masses with her crafty mixes, the crowd was well lubricated for Azealia Bank’s grand entrance.

Long locks flowing down her back, her polished asthetics vastly contrasted the fierce warrior look blazing in her eyes. With suited up back-up dancers getting crunk behind her, Banks wasted no time and hit off her set with the fast talking, Fuck Up The Fun, to heavy crowd approval. However, it kind of all went a bit downhill from there. With a rogue beach ball hitting her in the face, proclaiming “Ya’ll scared the fucking shit outta me with that ball”, and technical difficulties plaguing the remainder of her set, she seemed to lose the spark she started with.

Chewing through Van Vouge, Barbie Shit, Bambi, 1991, and my personal favourite, Jumanji in roughly 20 minutes, she announced highly anticipated final number, 212 by saying, “This is the reason why I’m here”. As expected, the crowd went ape shit, chanting “Imma ruin you cunt”, as Azealia dirty danced her way to the end of her underwhelming set.

While the crowd remained more than enthusiastic during her performance, the disappointment settled in when they realised it was over in a mere 27 minutes, with confused “is that it?” expressions spreading like wildfire throughout the crowd. While it’s understandable that technical difficulties played a major role, I felt that she self indulgently sped through her set and hardly gave the audience a chance to savour the experience. I really did expect more from someone who had just travelled half-way around the world to play their first Australian show.