Reviewed on Wednesday February 25
“I’m not trying to change your lives, I’m just trying to be a part of it,” announces Aubrey ‘Drake’ Graham as he strides across the Allphones Arena stage on his first Australian tour.
While he may be a perennial target for internet parody, it’s online where Drake has cultivated his significant following. Starting from the bottom with his modest MySpace page, the former Degrassi child star has released a series of successful mixtapes, claimed a Grammy win and hit the top of the Billboard charts with his recent release, the gritty If You’re Reading This, It’s Too Late. It’s an impressive resume for someone who’s only been making music professionally for six years.
Tonight, Drake is all about creating a spectacle, and some of his biggest hits suffer for it. There are costume changes, fireworks, strobe lighting and even ziplining above the audience on a flying fox to deliver hit ‘Hold On, We’re Going Home’. Schmoozing the crowd, he’s soon delivering more lines than a Mills & Boon novelist on a first date, declaring his unwavering love for his Sydney devotees. Unfortunately, many of his most notable stadium anthems are pared back to 16 bars as the gig begins to feel like it’s being curated by an impatient teen flicking between radio stations at a house party. When a track does reach the second verse, it feels like a luxury.
Despite these issues, Drake is certainly an endearing character. When he fires through the defiant Worst Behaviour and Rihanna collaboration Take Care, the momentum of the show soon begins to accelerate. Ending on signature track ‘Started From The Bottom’ is a nice touch as a video screen intersperses images of him as a much younger, inexperienced artist struggling to make an impact.
For all his swagger and bluster, Graham is more of an old-world crooner for the internet age than any bristly gangsta rapper from the proverbial ghetto – although he’s a genuine showman. And that’s important. Over the last decade, hip hop has taken a distinct detour from common chest-thumping machismo to a more measured introspection. Drake’s performance tonight speaks to success, vulnerability and insecurity in equal measure, and his alternate approach succeeds against the wave of gaudy gangsta rap that has previously flooded the market. What’s more, he can actually sing too.
Drake may not have changed our lives tonight, but he’s certainly changed hip hop for the better.
