I have to say, I'd been looking forward to this show for a long, long time. My fellow southern Adelaide brothers, the Funkoars, playing Thebarton Theatre for the last show of The Quickening tour - it was bound to be huge. It's been a massive year for the Funkoars, releasing their fourth album (titled - you guessed it - The Quickening) late this year, not to mention the multi-talented Trials having a hand in the production of Drapht's ARIA award winning The Life Of Riley, and label mate Vents' ARIA nominated Marked For Death. The only way to back up such success is to play the biggest show of the year, and what a show it was.

Hosted by the enthusiastic K21, the first cab off the rank was Adelaide's Mase and Mattic. These guys are young, but they know how to rhyme. It was non stop energy from the minute they hit the stage, working the crowd well and gearing them up for the next act. DJ PT backed up their flows with seamless cuts, and by the end the punters were jumping out of their skin. A great way to get the show started. Next up was Ciecmate, who rapped so fast I couldn't see his mouth moving. This guy is unbelievably skilled, and worked his way through the set with appearances from Newsense and Maggot Mouf, with No Name Nath spinning the beats. By this point, the crowd had tripled in size and the show was well on its way to wild.

K21 once again rocked the introductions, and this one was large - Vents and Adfu ran on stage and kicked things into gear. Vents, suffering a throat infection, unfortunately had to cut his set a little short, but if he was sick I didn't notice. Scorching through the tracks from Marked For Death, the title track completely killed it, as did first single "History Of The World". The great thing about Vents' stage show is DJ Adfu's participation. While your regular DJ would be chilling up the back letting the man do his thing, Adfu is out there pumping up the crowd, running up and down the stage alongside Vents, jumping around and just having an all out good time. It makes the performance so much more interesting and fun to watch, and by this point of the show the crowd was on fire. Vents closed his set with the extremely apt party anthem "Rollin' Balls", which everyone was doing by that stage, let me tell you.

Finally, the Funkoars bounded on stage - if the 'Oars are good at anything, it's consistency with energetic performances. As the bass thundered through our chests, Trials, Sesta and Hons utilised every single section of that stage, spitting bars faster than you can blink. DJ Reflux cut the tracks with a pair of sharp scissors, as the Adelaide crowd was treated to the live version of The Quickening. "Where I Am", the first single from The Quickening, was a highlight - the sample is perfect, and the blistering bars of Sesta and Hons show just how far the Funkoars have come over the years with their lyrics. The latest single "It's All Good (Is Very Good)" was massive, with the cheeky bear from the film clip hitting the stage to cause some chaos. Of course, it wouldn't be a Funkoars show without an influx of Golden Era guests. K21 hit it up for "I Got This", and proved to the crowd why he's one of our city's best MCs. I only had to hear the girls in the front row squealing to know that Hilltop Hoods were making an appearance. We certainly do have a love affair with the 'Hoods in Adelaide, and with good reason. As they ripped into "What I Want", the screams grew louder by the minute as Suffa and Pressure approached the crowd. A rested Vents joined the stage for "The Assassination", and Adfu jumped on the decks for "WSDL". Despite the shenanigans, there was a serious note to the night, with the 'Oars paying tribute to friend and Australian hip hop pioneer Hunter SBX, who sadly passed away from cancer this year. It was a great way for the Adelaide hip hop scene to pay tribute to someone who made such a large impact on Australian hip hop. The mood was lightened by my favourite track of the night, and from The Quickening, "Being Vincent D'onofrio" - which was definitely 'classic'.

The Funkoars really brought it tonight, and continue to prove that they're one of this country's best hip hop groups. It was a great celebration for the end of a fantastic year for the 'Oars and the Golden Era crew.