Who: True Live

What: Hip Hop/Jazz/Classical collective perform for their Found Lost Tour.

Where: The Basement, Circular Quay, Sydney

When: Friday 19th June

With a band made up of a cello, violin, double bass, drums and keyboard, classical melodies and jazz jams, True Live is highbrow Hip Hop. If you ever wanted to introduce your parents to the genre, True Live would be a good starting point. Not that they’re daggy. Far from it. As a matter of fact they motherflippin’ ROCK.
True Live bill themselves as Hip Hop/Classical/ Jazz. It’s a fair stretch of the imagination, but seeing it in action, it all makes sense. They kicked off the set at Circular Quay’s Basement venue with To The Sky, the first single from the new album. It was a shaky start for RHyNO’s voice, but once he warmed up he was on fire. When it’s a small venue, chances are the fans are going to be die-hards, not ‘hey let’s run down the local and see who’s playing’. They were energetic, lapping up the beats in the intimate setting, and going wild for the solos. Tamil Rogoen’s violining was like watching a guitar solo. You half expected him to start headbanging, except then he’d headbutt his violin, so it’s probably best he didn’t.
Something to Be was an early high point. The cheery melody and tinkly keys brought a smile to everyone’s face. The song’s a bit new for everyone to know all the words yet, but they all chimed in like a good little play group for the ‘nana na na nananana’.
It wasn’t just their hits that took off, the crowd seemed to know and love every song. The energy only increased as the string instruments rocked out so hard they sounded like fuzzed-up, powerchord-playing electric axes.
With the statement that “One of the best things about playing in the jazz scene, aside from everyone thinking you’re the guy from Mighty Boosh ('Jaazz traance'), is this...” RHyNO took word suggestions from audience members- dirt, yachting, Chewbacca and orange (just to prove he could rhyme it) and freestyled them. It was funny, and to his credit he didn’t skip a beat, with the surreal images taking the story in all directions.
The second biggest song of the evening was an old number, Keep Myself Awake. That and Tim Blake's Cello solo within the song were a strong highlight. It was immediately followed by TV and within minutes the Basement was jumping like it’s never jumped before. Rather than follow the standard path of the recorded song, TV (Live) stretched for several minutes longer, with random explosions of experimental jazz, foot stomping tempo, and feedback inducing screaming. It was fair to say the evening had reached a crescendo. Or had it? The only way to top an ending like that is with an over the top, never-ending medley of covers. As Jay Z’s 99 Problems became a Marvin Gaye song, and that became Back in Black, which evolved into their Like A Version cover of Never Tear Us Apart and ended on Sitting On the Dock Of the Bay, performers and crowd alike expended their last breaths of energy to resolutely and finally bring the house down on a very very good night in Circular Quay. True Live truly are not to be missed.

Stay tuned for pictures.