Review: Hip-hop royalty Hilltop Hoods reign over Adelaide

Homegrown heroes the Hilltop Hoods didn’t disappoint fans with their cheeky and uniquely Adelaidean homecoming performance. Read our review of the sold-out show.

The Hilltop Hoods didn’t disappoint fans. Picture: Chris Best

Attendees at the Hilltop Hoods homecoming performance at the Adelaide Entertainment centre last night were treated to an all-star contingent of our best local talent.

With over two decades of certified hits that include 21 hottest 100 places, 10 ARIAs and 6 number one albums, there was no shortage of anthems to draw from during their first hometown set in three years.

Opening up proceedings was Brooklyn’s DJ Total Eclipse who was well-aware of the party anthems required to buffer between the walls of Adelaide talent kickstarted by rising star Elsy Wameyo.

Having relocated from Kenya as a child, Elsy’s music draws from the experience of her familial Nilotic roots and lived experience here in Adelaide.

She warmed up the building with a serene grace, taking in her surroundings as she treated the crowd to an abundance of talent that you could one day see headlining a venue this size.

Her performance felt indicative of an inevitable future headline status with choreographed dancers, horns, bass-heavy rhythms and a demonstrated ability in bringing along any punters unfamiliar with her music along for the ride.

A through-line of identity was carried forward in the subsequent set performed by A.B Original.

One of Australia’s most outspoken acts, their catalogue still hits like a sledgehammer covering topics of racism, disenfranchisement and national identity.

“A.B Original by name, Aboriginal by nature” is one of the many reminders they provided to the night’s concert goers.

They’re the rare live act that can drag an often polite-Adelaide audience out of their shells, the importance of their message convincing even the most self-conscious fans to throw a fist up in support of their messages of justice and equality.

The Hilltop Hoods perform in their hometown of Adelaide. Picture: Chris Best

These support acts encapsulate the collaborative spirit of the Hilltop Hoods and is core to what has allowed them to remain such a driving creative force in the Australian music scene over the past 25 years.

Right up there with the Malls Balls and frog cakes, there are very few things more iconically South Australian than the Hilltop Hoods.

Unlike some of their contemporaries who often tend to migrate to larger ponds overseas or interstate, they’re the type of band you can still catch eating at local cafes in the Adelaide Hills or dancing along with punters at music festivals in their downtime.

The response to their initial question to the crowd of “hands up if you’ve been to a Hilltop Hoods concert before” was unanimously positive across the venue.

After basking in the crowd’s response the band specifically asked “who hasn’t been to one of our shows?”

After a chorus of boos they eventually located an attendee called Casey.

The Hoods then proceeded to playfully shout her out between songs, almost certainly cementing her fandom for life and highlighting the inherent likeability the band possesses.

The band have always positioned themselves perfectly between being serious and likeable, always maintaining a cheeky tongue-in-cheek presence during their live performances.

No matter how likeable the Hilltop Hoods are, no band could endure as long as they have without a seemingly relentless stream of stone-cold classic singles.

Many have made the argument that The Nosebleed Section could serve as a candidate for Australia’s unofficial national anthem and judging by the crowd reaction when they dropped it early in their set you can see why.

Without question carrying the flag as Australian hip-hop’s most enduring act of all time, it wouldn’t be a surprise if we had another quarter of a century of hits and Hilltop Hoods ahead of us.