Concert Review: Injury Reserve – Neck Of The Woods June 8, 2019

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Showcasing their experimental hip-hop instrumentals, the rap trio Injury Reserve brought their underground rap fans to Neck of the Woods on Saturday night. Beginning in Christchurch and Dunedin, Injury Reserve finally arrived in Auckland to continue their debut Australian and New Zealand tour. Although this was their last stop in New Zealand it was clear the crew was on top form last night.

 Injury Reserve is an Alternative Hip-hop, Jazz rap group from Arizona made up of  producer Parker Corey and rappers Stepa J. Groggs and Ritchie With a T. Their unusual sound is similar to the likes of JPEGMAFIA and Brock Hampton. This was evident when upon arrival I came across numerous people in the crowd wearing Brock Hampton merchandise.

 

After being escorted on stage the trio got things started with a remix of Rap song tutorial. The remainder of the set focused on presenting songs from their new album Injury Reserve by Injury Reserve along with a selection of their top hits prior to the debut album. 

 

It got very loud, as they screamed “Get the fuck up” which was the introduction into the suffocating piece GTFU. I then spotted a woman leaving the mosh pit with a bleeding nose only after the first three numbers. Thankfully the crew at Neck of the Woods was quick to help. 

 

I enjoyed the brief trip backward when they performed their number one hit Tktv. The success of this song was clear as the crowd began to cheer when hearing the recognizable first few seconds of the song. Despite Tktv being one of their more mellow songs throughout the entire tune the audience was screaming “lets go” with Ritchie, one of the lead vocalists.

 

It was interesting how the performance changed, suddenly the atmosphere slowed down with Best Spot In The House. This worked very well as it seemed the audience enjoyed the time to grab their breath.

 

The rolling piano from Gravy and Biscuts made it to be one of my favourite performances of the night. It was probably the closet thing to a pop single out of the entire set. Jaw breaker followed shortly afterward it had everyone right to the back of the venue chanting and bursting into the air. This song then transitioned to the heavy bass of All this Money which is best described as a club banger which even had the bartenders grooving for majority of the song. 

 

The show seemed to have whizzed by as the set was coming to an end, but not until we reached the song Jailbreak the Tesla which samples “Tokyo Drift” from fast and furious and combines Tesla references, trap, and industrial techno . During this set I was approached by a group of drenched members of the mosh pit, by the smiles on their faces it was clear they had the time of their lives.

 

After the trio thanked the audience the crowd began to chant “Encore” repetitively, Injury Reserve then closed the set with Three Man Weave. It ended with the crowd throwing their hands into the air and eventually applauding them off the stage.

 

There were some musical highlights to the set from their use of instrumentals to their stage performance, but majority of their show consisted of strobe lighting. Although I enjoyed this aspect it would of be good to see more of the spotlight on the acts during the slower songs. I also appreciated Injury Reserves efforts giving the general admission a free meet and greet immediately after the show. 

 

Milan Healey Furniss

The 13th Floor
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