It's really difficult to know where to begin reviewing last night's show at the tiny, cramped and totally excellent Lucha Lounge, because it's all about context.
So I'll start by providing some context.
Ur Boy Bangs, or simply Bangs, was born in South Sudan. He moved to Egypt briefly before ending up in Melbourne as a teenager. It was there he embraced the music of Chingy and Akon, before deciding to rap himself.
Bangs started making his own beats, often using his wardrobe as a recording booth. He produced his own tracks, and directed and edited his own videos. This resulted in the release of a video on YouTube in 2009 called 'Take U To Da Movies'.
Today, the production values and song would best be likened to a Tim & Eric skit - although it wasn't a Tim & Eric skit. It was the work an earnest young rapper called Bangs.
The video went bonkers and currently sits at over 9 million views on YouTube. Bangs became an overnight sensation, eventually having his pop culture icon status verified by appearing in an ad for Honda Australia How much Rap can you pack in a Jazz?
He allegedly got paid $100,000 for the gig. That, as well as playing corporate shows and house parties, probably finances his lifestyle.
Five albums followed and with them many more videos. There was a Christmas song, multiple tunes about girls, and a follow-up to 'Take U To Da Movies' called 'Meet Me On Facebook'.
Two weeks ago, Bangs tweeted that he was coming to New Zealand. More tweets followed asking for a venue, as he wanted to perform.
Twitter being what Twitter is, Bangs suddenly had a venue. For $20, Kiwi fans could finally see him perform. He played in Auckland last night and plans to play Wellington tonight at Puppies.
Auckland's gig was extraordinary. After an opening act (three local lads I'm embarrassed to say I don't know), Bangs appeared.
Lucha Lounge is notoriously small, and there was debate about where he'd appear from. He was either hiding in the loo, the kitchen, a crawl space under the stage… or outside on the street. The street ended up being the answer, and as Bangs took to the stage, a generation raised on the internet went crazy. My ears began to hurt.
The audience was swayed towards sweaty males, but Bangs was clearly happy to see plenty of lovely female faces, too.
He played for around 45 minutes, leading us to the inevitable conclusion of 'Take U To Da Movies'.
It was an amazing journey, each track sung and rapped in Bangs' haphazard style. Singing in tune wasn't a priority, but his unusual flow and catchy choruses were hard to ignore.
Perhaps some of the crowd was there to have a bit of a laugh, but they all found themselves dancing and singing along. Bangs was in ecstasy with a crowd of Kiwis all singing his lyrics back to him.
"Take your shirt off, Bangs!" someone yelled. Bangs obliged.
"I'm your boy Bangs!" he beamed back at the fan.
Bangs would end each song by yelling, "Can you make some noise!" The crowd did every time.
He asked people to wave their hands in the air. They did. This wasn't a crowd of nerds and pop culture junkies standing static, filming on their phones. They were a crowd having a great time at a concert.
Bangs also did something extraordinary by weaving a concept throughout the show. "Where do you want me to take you now?" Bangs screamed. "The movies!" the crowd yelled back.
"Wait wait wait, not yet - before da movies.. I gotta take you to the hotel," he grinned, before launching into a raunchy number concerning a bout of loving making in a hotel. From there, he took us to dinner - the order of events was admittedly unusual. At one stage, he met us on Facebook, and finally the amazing moment came where he took the rapt crowd to the movies.
It all ended as all the songs had - the backing track instantly cutting out to dead silence. There were no smooth transitions all night, so why would things change for the show's conclusion?
Bangs stayed on stage, passing his phone to an audience member. He wanted a selfie. The crowd went wild. Everyone was grinning and screaming. My ears hurt some more. Bangs had conquered. It was a tiny crowd, but a passionate one.
There was only downer - some poor kids arrived not realising it was an R18 show. They waited outside, handing their hand-made Bangs sign over to some older concert attendees to get signed.
The story has a happy ending. That sign got signed - and the kids left happy, too.
3 News
source: newshub archive
