Dizzee Rascal

By Grace Keyworth

The University of Canberra's refectory has recently undergone a make over and Dizzee Rascal was one of the first real tests for the refreshed venue. Study and food hall by day, the tables and chairs were cleared away and refect was transformed into pumping music room on Friday night. 

Starting off the evening were local lads Cheese and Offtapia, who provided the necessary warm up beats to get the young liquored crowd in the mood to party until the early morning. Everything was running pretty smoothly with two bars providing quick drink service, plenty of space out side and designated smoking areas to keep everyone happy. Although more than one person commented that they should've added some extra toilets in the fit out, as people had to wait over 20 minutes to get to the front of the queue, a problem that resulted in disaster for a few punters. 

DJ Tai mounted the very dimly lit stage next, standing out in his red cardigan and blonde hair piled stylishly into a quiff. His electro music was baseline heavy which the audience didn't react to at first, with more leaning against the walls than dancing. Towards the end of his set he played a remix of Guns N Roses anthem Sweet Child of Mine which won over many punters and a mosh pit formed in front of the stage. 

The atmosphere increased from engaged punters to pandemonium from the moment The Subs hit the stage. The highly energetic three piece looked fantastic with black and white eye makeup providing a focus point and gave them a rock star edge. The boys made use of the stage, the speakers and railings, jumping around and climbing the speaker stack whilst removing items of clothing throughout their set. Special mention goes to the lead singer's bedazzled leather jacket, more than one person in the media area commented on how they'd love to hang it in their wardrobe. Their sound was heavily synthesised electro punk and the 1900 strong crowd jumped in sweaty unison to their most well known track Bang Bang Bang. 

By the time Dizzee Rascal was ready to come on stage at 11.30 the crowd was well and truly oiled and ready to see him. The crowd jostled for positions close to the stage, unfortunately resulting in a bunch of boys loosing their tempers but the security team did a good job controlling the violence. In a blaze of light and noise Dizzee appeared; wearing a Michael Jordan 23 jersey, basketball shorts and some very shiny black kicks he had the 'I'm way too cool for school' look sorted. 

Dizzee opened with old favourites, Old Skool, Bad Behaviour, Road Rage and Dirtee Disco and played the mash-up with Florence and the Machine's You got the Dirtee Love was a definite crowd favourite. His lyrics were machine gun fast, and at times a little indecipherable to those not overly familiar with his style. When he left the stage without playing Bonkers the crowd knew he would be back, telling us he wanted to 'take us on a holiday' and launched into his current hit Holiday and finished the night with Bonkers. Pure mayhem is an understatement on the crowd's reaction to his most well known song, and I was very glad I made the trip down the stairs from the media balcony to get amongst the final release of energy.