De La Soul
The Arena, Brisbane, Australia
Saturday, 31st May 2003

De La’s first time in Brisbane was keenly anticipated, selling all available tickets with ease. One guy roamed the queue outside, offering $100 for a ticket. Not surprisingly, he was left wanting.

Being a relatively new fan of the group, it was also my first time.

Some of the songs included, alluded to or hinted at were: Potholes In My Lawn, Me Myself And I, … “Saturdays”, Ring Ring Ring, Ego Trippin, I Am I Be, Breakadawn, Itzsoweezee, Pony Ride, Stakes Is High, U Can Do, Oooh, Thru Ya City, I C Y’all, All Good?, Bionix, Baby Phat.

De La’s stage paradigm is not so much a collection of distinct songs, rather a stream of consciousness where parts of different songs effortlessly segue into each other, punctuated regularly with appeals to the audience to move their arms around in a certain manner.

This is where Maseo really shines. His beat is smooth and flawless; scratching and other turntable novelties sound like they actually belong in the music. I’m all about Maseo over here.

Rating: **** four asterisks.