For the third time in a relatively short period, Big Boi, one half of the iconic OutKast, has come to grace us with another fast-paced set of his unique funkafied southern rap, and I could not have been more excited. It has long been a dream of mine to see OutKast live, and since Mr ‘Dre 3000 doesn’t really like touring (even in the States) we had to make do with 50% of one of the greatest duo’s in music history – by no means a bad thing.

The last time Big Boi AKA Daddy Fat Sax AKA Antwan Andre AKA General Patton came to Australia is was part of some strange marketing project for the latest ‘Need for Speed;’ This time, Big Boi is here purely to not only showcase his hugely successful solo album Sir Lucious Left Foot, but tide over long-time OutKast fanatics (and trust me, there’s a lot of them) with classic ‘Kast tracks, going all the way back to the classic Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik LP.

While I unfortunately arrived after the supports, I heard great things about Theophilus London and Thundamentals while the packed Enmore awaited Big Boi’s arrival.

Unlike his Hordern gig last time he was out here, Big Boi dragged along a tremendously talented backing band, complete with drummer, guitarist, two trumpets, and an extremely skilled DJ.

Lights dimmed and a documentary-style video played, letting us know the time was here. Following this Big Boi and Purple Ribbon All Star’s member BlackOwned C-Bone (the hype man for the night) strutted out on stage and immediately started hyping the overwhelmingly energetic crowd.

Just like last time, Big Boi busted out with Speakerboxxxs “Bust” to open the set, quickly flowing through the first verse before getting into personal favourite “ATLiens” complete with infamous verse and the classic hook.

It was clear Big Boi didn’t want any down time, as his DJ and backing band took on a medley-style way of playing, seguing straight from “ATLiens” into “Skew It On The Bar-B,” and then the notorious “Rosa Parks” - I couldn’t have been happier with the blast from the past.

While the classics melted into one another, it was bittersweet because Andre 3000 wasn’t there to complete the songs, and even though Big Boi can more than hold his own, it remains a dream to see the duo perform together.

Realising that the relatively young crowd, although excited, weren’t really familiar with older OutKast, Antwan Andre took time out to give us some more commercial tracks with “So Fresh, So Cool” and “Ms Jackson,” the latter sending the audience into a frenzy.

Leaving the OutKast material behind for a second, the solo hits came out. “General Patton,” “Follow Us,” and “Daddy Fat Sax” were performed in succession, with C-Bone acting as a hype man. “GhettoMusik” preceded the classic “B.O.B,” but again, Big Boi wasn’t able to perform the latter in full without 3000 present – the band tried to make it up to us though with an awesome DJ VS Drummer battle which led into Big Boi’s first break of the night.

General Patton allowed his guitarist to perform a solo, it was hardly recognisable but when he began singing the opening lines I was amazed that it was a rendition of the introductory “You May Die” from OutKast’s seminal ATLiens LP – awesome.

Our first awkward moment of then night came when C-Bone invited a bunch of tweens on stage to get their awkward on while a forgettable club track overtook the speakers. You know the whole stereotype about ‘white girls’ trying to dance like Beyonce – yeah, this is what that looked like. While the audience scratched their heads trying to figure out why these girls thought they were ‘sexy’ all was forgiven when Big Boi came back into the limelight to churn out “The Way You Move.”

The next segment was for the ‘day one’ fans (or just those that dig OutKast’s older material) and I don’t want to sound like a dirty hipster, but this was one of the highlights of the night. “Southernplayalistic…” served as an introduction to one of hip-hop’s best ever recordings, “Players Ball” and I was just so happy to hear this track that I didn’t even mind that 3 Stacks wasn’t there to complete the song.

Big Boi performed a few more solo tracks before the main set closed with “Shutterbug” and “Kryptonite.”

For the encore, the awkward girls came back out to dance around while “Tangerine” was performed. The biggest surprise of the night came in the form of an amazing rendition of “SpottieOttieDopaliscious” showing off the awesome talents of the band, and the smooth soul of Big Boi – this will always be one of OutKast’s finest songs.

After allowing all members of his band perform awesome solo’s, General Patton closed the night with the Andre 3000-produced “You Ain’t No DJ”.

It was pretty much the same set list as when he was at the Hordern (exception being "You May Die" and “Spottie…”). However, this time it was much better because of the backing band and Big Boi’s infectious energy, not to say that last time was unenergetic, but this night really showed that he is one of the most cheerful, dynamite performers in hip-hop and we should all feel so lucky that he loves this country so much – hopefully we can expect him again very soon.

Set List

Bust
ATLiens
Skew It On The Bar-B
Rosa Parks
So Fresh, So Clean
Ms Jackson
General Patton
Follow Us
Daddy Fat Sax
You May Die (Intro)
The Way You Move
Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik
Player’s Ball
Elevators (Me & You)
Shine Blockas
Fo Yo Sorrows
Shutterbug
Kryptonite

Encore

Tangerine
SpottieOttieDopaliscious
You Ain’t No DJ