the place was The Chelsea in the Fortitude Valley in Brisbane in the state of Queensland in Australia.. the night the 4/4/98... i had only found out the day before.. thought they weren't gonna hit my town for another 2 or so weeks... rocked up to the place at bout 10pm .. i was rollin solo (i dun know anyone round here into hiphop.. most of my friends into r&b/rap).... paid A$15... walked in.. small place.. small floor... but there also was an upstairs u could look down from.... tiny stage.. the decks were set up n some non-discript dj was changin the songs.... bout 10:30 one of the more known local dj's.. dj sheep got on the decks... was gettin wild or anything.. just a lil bit of scratchin n stuff.... but he made it a lil more interesting.. some nice tunes were being played some old empd, tribe... 7L and esoteric... threw on common's i used to love her.. which got a holler from a few ppl .. heads were noddin by now... bout 11pm... guy gets on stage does all that welcome stuff...some local emcee ( i missed his name... too busy watchin this stoned dude get chucked out) he was ok.. but his 5 mins of fame got stolen cos the local (and australia wide famous) b-boy allstars and Rapid Fire Breakers decided to get busy.. some nice power moves.. one of em pulled of this nice spin.. was like a headspin.. but it looked like on his face than on the top of his head.. was also leanin on his hand.. damn i dunno.. looked hella good.. local dj shawn d was on the tables.. ppl were gettin into it... bout 11:30 the annoucement came mystik's were gonna be on in 15... well here is a good time to comment on the crowd... if u came from the states.. the reaction would be "what the fuck???"... 98% is white... the other 2% is made up of japanese, various south pacific islanders (samoan, tongan.. etc) and werid ass mixes like me =).... most of the local 'blacks' (black here means mostly islanders n aboriginals, brisbane hasn't got a large african population, not like sydney) are into r&b and hybrid rap... underground hiphop is mostly listened to by whites... and it's weird.. most of them have a look more associated with alternative not hiphop.. i mean i ain't into labels.. but here u can't go to an r&b playin club without being assaulted by gear with tommy labels.... besides the breakers in their adidas gear..i felt overdressed in jeans and a simple nike tee....go figure... anyways.. mystiks made their way to the stage.. the sound system was good..caught me off guard cos the place looked not so crash hot... and stage was too small n cluttered with speakers and mic stands and some live instruents.. (which mystiks didn't use).... worked of dat i think.... well i can honestly i say i had a good time.. they were full of energy...since there was no room to run along the edge of the stage.. they went in the vertical direction... got the crowd goin for sure.. there raps were on point... i haven't had the pleasure of hearin any of their stuff.. before.. just the good reviews i seen on here and other ppl i have talked to over the net.... but i see why... they worked the crowd.... by the third song... crowd was jumpin just goin wild... around the dance floor were like counters just less than chest height when u stand next to them (i'm 6 foot).... and i sat on one of them.. i was bout 2 - 3 meters from stage and about a head lower than mystiks.. which led to me catchin lotta looks from em.. i was diggin it..some serious head noddin for sure( i has sore neck for sure hahaha) but that wasn't good enough it seems... cos at one stage the bald headed one ( i mean i hadn't had the chance to hear their music before..let alone their names) looked straight at me and yelled over ( not in the mic luckily, just at me) "ayo dun just sit there' first i just went 'shit'... then i kinda grinned at him , sorta waved him off and yelled back ' shut up and just get live'.. didn't expect that from myself... kinda mean lookin when he wants to be..anyways.. he grinned and just launched into his verse.. all in all they had the crowd goin hard for like 50 mins - 1 hour ... just raw energy came across.. some nice crowd involvement... the fact that the sound system held to their continual askin of the soundman to keep turnin it up....(kinda felt sorry for the guy.. i mean once it's all the way up.. it not gonna get any louder no matter how hard he push the volume sliders).... after this sydney group "metabass n breath" jumped on.. and did some nice shit.. including some crowd participation which i hadn't heard before.....nice touch.. they also used live keyboards and drums... and over all sounded good...(if i sound surprised.. that is because australian emcee'in sounds funny to me.. we listen to so much american hiphop and are so used to that accent that our own accent in rappin terms sounds foreign) i left just after their set.. had to meet some of the fellas at another club.. some othere guys in know were singin on stage.. they're pretty good.. in an r&b way..... but just sounded so unergetic after seeing mystiks....... i know this was a long ass post.. but this is one of the few times i actually got somethin worth writing about.. i am what i have seen kari term as a 'regular lurker' been readin for like 3 years here.. anwyas i'm off to bed.. it's nearly 3 am... and i got big assingment due tommorw... only 2 months to go.. that what keepin me alive.. ahaha peace kai