When The Opposites received the prestigious Pop Award in 2013, the jury report praised their performance on stage: The Opposites set “a new standard for live hip-hop”.
In recent years, Twan van Steenhoven and Willem de Bruin have separately made serious music about fatherhood and poor mental health, respectively. In the Amsterdam Gashouder they met for the first time in almost ten years, where they once again showed and showed what that standard entails.
Their potpourri of funny but energetically brought lyrics, hardstyle beats, drum ‘n bass, house and gabber is framed by a beautiful production, each track is beautifully lit and there are bouncing laser beams as one track after another passes through the remix mangle is met. When their own beat is turned off by the DJ and out of nowhere turns into The Prodigy’s ‘Smack My Bitch Up’, the crowd goes on with wall of deaths and moshpits†
Also read: Hip-hop duo The Opposites wins Edison Pop Oeuvre Prize
And then there was that double screen, which changed color like a sunrise when Twan and Willem rapped about afterparties until early in the morning. Halfway through the evening, the image of Henny Vrienten suddenly appeared, of course in characteristic Doe Maar green and pink. The rest of the gas dome was also lit with those fluorescent, clashing colors, while an adaptation of Doe Maar’s ‘Belle Helene’ was performed.
It turned out to be a rare moment of calm in a show that mostly revolved around an old-fashioned game of ragging. For a weekend – sold out three days in a row – Twan and Willem will undoubtedly feel like Big2 and Willy again; the rap aliases they made up in their teens. The audience had the honor of swirling along in that youthful energy.
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