Live Review: Rich Brian

With the way he holds a crowd's attention, you wouldn't think Rich Brian (aka Brian Imanuel) was an 18-year-old kid on his first tour of Australia, the audience erupting into screams as he jumps out onto the 256 Wickham stage. Everyone is clambering to get closer to the small stage, with people pushing and shoving in the all-ages section. 

Imanuel struts around on stage in a jacket and sunnies, and as he whips both of these items off to dance freely around the space, there are more screams. Imanuel stops after every song to talk to us - the kid could say anything and the audience would scream back like a highschool cheer squad. We're a few songs in when he asks everyone to participate in his next song by turning their flashlights on and holding their phones high in the air - the few opening notes of recent single Glow Like Dat sound and even more screaming ensues. As fun as the show is, it's near impossible to see anything of Imanuel, as even without the sea of flashlights held high, it seems like every single person in the room has their phone out, filming every song. For those at the back of the room, the best view we get is off the mobile phone screen of the person in front of us.

A couple more songs in and Imanuel says, "It's so good to be here. What's good to do in Brisbane?" The resounding chant of, "Shoey, shoey, shoey!" soon echoes off the ceiling, as a less-than-stoked Imanuel removes his shoe to the crowd's great pleasure. This moment is short lived, however, as Imanuel is forced to put his shoe back on when the 18-plus barrier at the back of the venue prevents any liquor from getting close to the stage. Close call for Imanuel!

It's not long before we hear the first electric notes of a song we've all been waiting for, Rich Brian's 2016 breakthrough single Dat $tick. The first half of the song is impossible to hear over the sound of everyone in the room singing every word. The show ends abruptly for, as soon as the last note of this song sounds, Imanuel is no longer onstage and his DJ has left as well. There's resounding chants for, "One more song!" - louder than this scribe has ever heard before. After a couple of minutes Imanuel comes bounding right back out and we're treated to Dat $tick, again.

But everyone's happy to hear this song again and as soon as it's over, and Imanuel leaves the stage for good, the throng of people pressed so tightly together disband and we're all out of the venue before 9pm.