Hilltop Hoods

I was missing out on some good music, so I made sure to stop by Barrymore’s for a night of hip-hop with The Hilltop Hoods. It’s getting closer to the end of the year and we have been a part of a lot of shows so it’s always nice to have something new come across my desk.

The Hilltop Hoods are on tour to support their new album The Great Expanse. I wish I could keep up with more music but like many others I had not heard about these guys when they were announced. Right away I looked up some of their music and was instantly a fan. I even made sure to add a few tracks to my regular play list. The founding members Suffa and Pressure have developed a long resume along with DJ Debris. They have released 8 studio albums and won many awards including multiple time Best Australian Live Act.

Opening Act

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Opening up the night is Ottawa local Temptation. I’ve had the chance to check out Temptation before as he’s been on the local scene for a little while. He brought out his brother to rock a few tracks and get the crowd in the right mood also. For a Thursday night Ottawa took a little time to fill out the venue at the start of the night but Temptation did his job and got the fans on the floor.

Adrian Eagle

Along for the ride with The Hilltop Hoods is Adrian Eagle. A native Australian, Adrian was another unknown for me, but I was excited to check him out. You can certainly see why Adrian Eagle recently won Best Solo and Best Release awards with the presence he brings to the stage. Coming out to a stripped-down stage setup it was just him and his mic. This man has such a smooth yet powerful sound it instantly drew in the fans. He has a calmer vibe to his music, but the fans were just grooving with him from the start. It was kind of cool to watch Ottawa just take in this man’s music. His powerful message of love and equality hit everyone. I became a fan and it was awesome getting to spend a few mins with him after his set.

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Hilltop Hoods

It’s now time for your headliners for the evening, The Hilltop Hoods. Let me tell you that the fans were right up front for this one and you can tell they were true diehards. They started off the night with a burst of energy and kept that going the whole night. They wanted to make sure they played a few of their older tracks for fans. One of the ones I was waiting for the most was Leave Me Lonely and I got my wish with song number 2! Every song exploded with energy and didn’t stop the whole time.

It’s not every day the floors at Barrymore’s bounce like The Hilltop Hoods had it going. They rocked out with a 20-song set list which was amazing. Joined by Plutonic Lab as a live drummer the whole house rocked. It was Lab’s birthday so the whole place sang him happy birthday which was pretty awesome to see. The end of the night they decided not to mess with us all and finish out their encore right away with Cosby Sweater.

The Hilltop Hoods is probably one of my favourites shows of the year. It had such an old-school hip-hop vibe which was amazing. It’s even kind of reminded me of also of a Classified vibe also…these guys would totally rock an amazing colab.

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