Concert Review: Rae Sremmurd at the Enmore Theatre

Hailing from the same hometown as Elvis Presley and Diplo, Tupelo, Mississippi born American hip hop duo Rae Sremmurd (brothers Slim Jxmmi and Swae Lee) held an energetic sideshow at Sydney’s Enmore Theatre on Wednesday 9^th January 2019.

A treat for fans of all ages, amidst their performances at this year’s FOMO Festival, held throughout cities across the country. Our team was lucky to catch their sold-out sideshow in Sydney. 

From their beginnings as young kids practicing dancing and writing music together, and learning to produce music on Fruity Loops – it was clear the crowd was anticipating a great show from the famous brothers, known for making catchy songs that end up being used as meme challenges or my favourite use of their music – Solange doing a choreographed dance with her son Julez using Rae Sremmurd’s ‘No Flex Zone’ to her wedding to Alan Ferguson in November 2014.  

Managing to catch the last few minutes of Rae Sremmurd’s opening act – Australian rapper, singer and musician Carmouflage Rose who also appeared at FOMO this year, kept the energy levels of the all-ages crowd at an all-time high with his performance. 

Entering the show right as Carmouflage Rose’s DJ dropped the 2018 hit ‘Mo Bamba’ by Harlem musician Sheck Wes – the hit causing boys in the crowd near me to scream hysterically and start taking their shirts off, jumping up and down dramatically in unison, their hysteria reminiscent of 1960’s footage of fangirls seeing The Beatles in real life.  

Introducing Rae Sremmurd was none other then their DJ Sremm – who opened their show with Travis Scott’s ‘SICKO MODE,’ one of the biggest hits of 2018 – sending the crowd crazy with enthusiasm. The mood was set, the lights dimmed and a bright red velvet flowing backdrop appeared with ‘Rae Sremmurd’ in white font – out came Slim and Swae asking “Sydney, WHAT’S UP?!” further antagonizing the crowd and to a familiar tune – the beginning of Rae Sremmurd‘s ‘No Type’. 

The great thing about Rae Sremmurd’s show was the variety of their setlist, playing songs that spanned from their debut album – “SremmLife” (2015) including ‘No Flex Zone’, ‘Come Get Her’ and ‘No Type’ to their second album “SremmLife 2” (2016) with ‘Black Beatles’ and their latest album, “SR3MM” (2018) performing ‘Buckets (feat. Future)’ and ‘Perplexing Pegasus,’ ‘Chanel (feat. Swae Lee & Pharrell)’ from “Jxmtro” and ‘Guatemala’ from “Swaecation.”

By performing a vast setlist of their discography, this allowed fans from all walks of life to enjoy their performance immensely. Throughout the show, their constant mention of being in Sydney, Australia and incorporating our hometown into their lyrics made the fans and even myself go wild with excitement. A simple gesture for an artist to do that makes the crowd always feel at home. 

As the end of their set approached, they finished with their most popular track on Spotify – the 2018 hit ‘Powerglide (feat. Juicy J)’ which sent everyone into a frenzy, creating numerous mosh pits in the crowd, much to the dismay of the security guards at the Enmore. 

Music is made to be enjoyed by everyone, and Rae Sremmurd really showed that with this performance. With their youthful energy and their appreciation of their fans (at one stage, getting three local kids to sing along with them on stage), I can see why their concert was sold out and why they have a growing fanbase across the world. It appears that Rae Sremmurd is everyone’s type.

Words and photography by Talica Tamanitoakula.

Rae Sremmurd
9 January 2019
Enmore Theatre