REVIEW: Tkay Maidza Blew The Roof Of 170 Russell in Melbourne

The rise of Tkay Maidza has been undeniably mammoth. From her breakout hit Brontosaurus to Switch Tape and now to her debut album TKAY, she has gone stride to stride in becoming one of Australia’s biggest exports. Last week, Maidza brought her high energy show to Melbourne’s 170 Russell for one night only; her last visit to Melbourne saw multiple sold out shows at the Northcote Social Club, so you knew the night was going to be lit. Supported by Midas.Gold and Sable, lit is putting it mildly.

Midas.Gold was first up, opening up the ceremonies for the night. Gold is one of the most promising hip-hop acts in the game today, so it was a little disappointing to see a relatively small crowd vibing with him. “Some of you may know me, most of you don’t.” Gold joked on stage before launching into another high energy track. Fresh from dropping his For What It’s Worth project (read our review here), I highly recommend turning up early to catch him, you won’t be disappointed.

Sable sent the crowd into a frenzy with his tropical and house reworks and live electronic instrumentation. Tracks like his remix of Jack Ü‘s Where Are Ü Now? and The Throne‘s N***** In Paris were crowd favourites, with the beats growing more and more intoxicating as the set progressed, becoming more hip-hop heavy throughout, ending on reworkings from the likes of Kendrick Lamar and Skepta.

The room imploded when Tkay Maidza appeared on stage. Flanked by her DJ and drummer (Tim Commandeur, best known from Operator Please) she launched into the album’s lead track Always Been, blending seamlessly into her collab with Killer Mike Carry On. Something that I’ve always enjoyed about a Tkay Maidza show is there’s very few rest periods. Maidza moves like lightning through the songs, whipping the crowd into a frothing mess of arms and jumping. It’s been roughly a week since TKAY dropped but the fans were already across it, screaming lyrics back at her throughout. Tkay’s ability to blend hip-hop, dance and pop music makes her music so accessible to so many people and she brings people together to do one thing: party.

“We think you might know this one,” Maidza beamed at the audience as M.O.B began to screams and cheers. She then moved flawlessly into new single Tennies, which oozes M.I.A vibes but is still 100% Tkay. Every track was a banger and Maidza kept up the energy for her entire set. Switch Lanes brought the house down, self-described as the “reason you know me”, before closing with latest single Simulation, triggering waving hands in the air and arms around friends. Always leaving the crowd wanting more, she departed the stage and the, as I like to call it, “get the fuck out” music began to play. Standard cries for an encore rang out and were rewarded when Maidza and co. reappeared on stage to perform Brontosaurus. The DJ spent some time trying to find the track in his mix, as Tkay joked that normally they don’t return, but Melbourne went off. After goading the crowd more and more, as the stomping feet reached a peak Brontosaurus started and was the perfect end to an amazing gig.