Words By: Micelle Swami
Photos By: Brendan Lee
Friday September 13, 2013 – Friday night at Fortune was filled to the brim with Austrailians and Canadians alike. You would think there was some sort of sports game or meet up going on, but really it was all for a lil Aussie Hip-Hop duo called Bliss N Eso. In their homeland of Austrailia, the multi ARIA nominated (Polaris Prize to us Canadians) are chart topping giants and across the world (Canada included), their popularity is no exception. To start the night off Evil Ebenezer played some joints off his new album ‘Howl’ and Ceekay Jones opened things up and got the crowd moving for the night ahead.
Bliss N Eso jump on stage and immediately after Bliss takes the mic to explain something serious. Being the first date of a Canadian tour, Bliss N Eso had just come back from Afghanistan, playing for the troops, spreading their motto of “peace, love and unity”. Upon flying back into Canada, Eso got extremely dehydrated and had actually spent the whole night before in the emergency room. Doctors told him not to perform at all but rather then Bliss manning the first date of their Canadian tour alone, Eso defied doctor’s orders and came on stage to perform, IV in hand.
“Family! Family!” was the chant Bliss started right into ‘Family Affair’ which set the vibe right at the packed Fortune Sound Club. After playing a few more songs off new album, ‘Circus In the Sky’, Bliss decides to give Eso a break by doing some beatboxing. Beatboxing a few beats into a rendition of ‘Seven Nation Army’ by the White Stripes, when Eso came back on stage to freestyle over it. Then Bliss goes into a drum and bass beat while their DJ, DJ Izm scratched behind him.
DJ Izm, is a fairly popular DJ in Austrialia. Although not as popular on this side of the world, he was ready to show the people what he’s got. His routine would put most professional DJ’s to shame but then he managed to wow the crowd by performing the same set twice as fast. He followed that up with a medley of popular songs. From Flosstradamus to ‘Niggaz in Paris’ to ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ to ‘Thrift Shop’ right into Beastie Boys ‘Body Movin’ the night went from Hip-Hop show right into a dance party within minutes.
Bliss n Eso go back on stage to play a song they claimed to have never played before, which was also their next single. The song was called ‘My Life’ with profesional snowboarder turned musician Ceekay Jones. Ceekay stayed on stage for the duration of the show on guitar duties, and back up vocals occasionally.
“How many of you like Nas?” asked Eso as the crowd screamed in excitement. Bliss N Eso’s new record has a lot of cameos, most notably Nas which features in the song ‘I Am Somebody’. Not straying away from their older work, BNE went on to play hits such as ‘The Sea Is Rising’ and ‘Down by the River’ before leaving the stage.
“Aussie Aussie Aussie Oi Oi Oi” chanted the crowd as the BNE stepped on stage for their encore. Bliss, Eso and DJ Izm went on to the mic to thank the crowd for understanding why Eso wasn’t a hundred percent and their genuine gratitude for the turn up on this early Friday night. They were amazed and thankful for the amount of unity between the Aussies and Canadians in the room and BNE finished off their set with a beautiful rendition of ‘Home Is Where the Heart is’. Given the amount of Austrialians in the room, home was right there at Fortune Sound Club on that Friday night.
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