If you came up to me five years ago and told me I would ever witness a crowd full of underage hipsters getting crunk to Mike Jones’ “Still Tippin” I would have had quite the chuckle – not now.

Fast forward to 2012 and the hype surrounding the now infamous rap collective Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All (OFWGKTA) has ensured that hundreds of screaming teen hipsters consume all of their output religiously. It was then expected that the respectable turn-out at the Enmore Theatre would more resemble a crowd from a Parkway Drive concert than that of a hip-hop gig.

Aside from the fact that I felt like I was at schoolies the excitement in the air was hard to resist and guaranteed a fun night. Even though the Enmore opened doors at 7pm there was no support act and quite a long wait until Odd Future took to the stage at 9:30pm. To fill the huge void, instead of having a bunch of warm-up DJ’s, we were treated to a tiresome playlist consisting of glitchy hip-hop beats, some Meek Mill, and some Rick Ross – that was pretty much it. Whenever the lights dimmed the crowd went into hysterics and everyone would scramble to get to the very front - quite a worrying sight to view from the mezzanine.

After hours of waiting Odd Future’s DJ Syd Tha Kyd ran out to the decks and began building up the excitement with tracks like N.E.R.D’s “Spazz,” Waka Flocka’s “Karma,” and the aforementioned “Still Tippin.” All tracks which saw explosions of energy all over the dance floor and caused some early, and very violent-looking, circle pits. After trying hard to understand how kids see circle pits at a hip-hop gig as a ‘cool’ thing to do, I decided to just zone out and bounce along to the bass.

It wasn’t before long that MellowHype’s relentless “64” served as an intro to the concert and brought out Hodgy Beats and Left Brain, who then proceeded to energetically jump around stage while Hodgy screamed his verses into the mic – much to everyone’s delight.

The unofficial leader of the gang, Tyler, The Creator ran out to deafening screams and proceeded to warn the fans that if anybody threw something at him, Tyler would jump into the crowd and beat the culprit senseless – this aroused even louder cheers.

From then on it was e-hit after e-hit with “Transylvania,” “Rolling Papers,” “Tron Cat,” and “Tang Golf” were performed with so much energy that the screaming-instead-of-rapping most members displayed was instantly forgiven.

Both times I have seen OF live, I have been most impressed by Mike G – without a doubt the brightest emcee of the group and he sure showed it with the smooth “Everything That’s Yours,” which still managed to see a few circle pits start – it seems all these kids need is a beat to start launching themselves off each other.

Tyler came straight back in with the energy needed to perform fan-favourite “French” to which Hodgy responded with “Igotagun” – by this point it was obvious that the crowd was well-versed in everything Odd Future.

It was my first time hearing Domo Genesis go in over Mobb Deep’s classic “Hell on Earth” with his version “Benediction (Under the Influence)” and I couldn’t help but compare it to the acclaimed rap classic – while Domo proves to be a good emcee his verses just didn’t do the beat any justice. The most entertaining part of this song was that there were STILL numerous circle pits, even to Havoc’s down-tempo, dark production.

Tyler and MellowHype then went back and forth with e-hits like the established “Yonkers” – to which the fans rapped every word – and “Sandwiches.” Evidently, Odd Future are now well aware of how to start up and maintain as much energy as possible throughout their entire show and that alone is a skill not many of their older contemporaries seem to possess.

While their whole set justified every bit of hype surrounding OFWGKTA, it was the final four songs which proved the highlight of the night. Starting with Mike G’s lo-fi “King” which treated us to the hip-hop I’m used to, before smacking us in the face with MellowHype’s violent “Fuck the Police” and Tyler’s “Bitch Suck Dick.” I have no doubt that there were many injuries in the crowd, looking down I could even see some people tackling each other in the circle pits.

All hell broke loose when Tyler closed with “Radicals,” inspiring the most violent-looking crowd I think I’ve seen since Rage against the Machine played Big Day Out - and that’s NOTHING to be proud of (and no, it’s not cool either).

It’s unfortunate that Odd Future attract the type of people they do, act the way they do, and encourage the type of things they do – because beneath all the over-the-top defiance and the annoying sub-culture that surrounds them, they are a talented collective. If we look past the themes in their music, we see a group of capable emcees, skilled at taking on a theme and portraying it in a vivid, innovative way; and besides, not all their tracks contain the explicit themes that Tyler is often criticised for.

This concert proved that no matter what OF’s many detractors have to say, they are capable of putting on a great, high-energy performance; and with a perfectly balanced set-list, every member received enough stage time to show that they deserve all the success that is coming their way.