Genesis Owusu
Sydney Opera House Studio, Sydney, NSW
Friday, September 19th
Some music artists pick a lane and do one thing very well — hello, AC/DC — while others might try out different sounds from album to album, proving they can adapt to varying styles (see: Beyoncé’s recent run of albums).
Then, you’ve got artists like Genesis Owusu, the rare unicorn who can masterfully switch up genres from one track to the next — rap to punk, R&B to pop, and everything else in between — while still having it all sound of a piece. It’s a rare feat that marks Owusu as one of the country’s most singular and exciting talents — there’s a good reason he’s picked up the Album of the Year ARIA Award for his first two LPs, 2021’s Smiling with No Teeth, and 2023’s Struggler (the former topped our Best Australian Albums of the 2020s So Far list).
All of this makes tonight’s show, the second of three intimate, in-the-round residency performances at the Sydney Opera House Studio (max capacity: 600), an incredibly exciting prospect, especially since fans are promised to be the first in the world to hear tracks from Ghanian-Australian artist’s highly anticipated third album, which currently has no release date or title (although the name of the residency, “Redstar Wu’s Neighbourhood Jams”, may provide a clue).
Credit: @byravyna
The show opens with Elon Musk-dissing new single “Pirate Radio”, a laser-focused, industrial punk-rap banger that creates an immediate electric charge in the room that informs the crowd they’re in for something truly special. By the time the track ends, and the charismatic Owusu (born Kofi Owusu-Ansah) tell us we’re part of his community and “active participants” in tonight’s performance, he already has the fully locked-in crowd in the palm of his hand.
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Playing unreleased music live is an incredibly risky proposition, but any fears about a lack of recognition leading to awkward silences goes right out the window from the get-go, a sure sign that we’re witnessing a songwriter and performer at his peak. By providing lyrics and encouraging us to sing along, new track “Stampede”, a post-punk belter, already seems like a beloved fan favourite before it even ends.
With riot-level energy in the room, Owusu wisely dials it back on funky slow jam “Waitin’ on Ya”, one of only three tracks performed from Smiling with No Teeth (the others being the soulful “A Song About Fishing”, with the crowd ably filling in on vocal duties when the mic cuts off for a short period, and crowd favourite “Don’t Need You”).
Credit: @byravyna
Although the older material predictably goes down a treat — Owusu throws himself into the crowd for a supercharged “Stay Blessed” that has fans going wild — it’s the fresher material that offers the biggest thrills. Eleven new songs are played — if not the entire upcoming album, then surely close to it — and the highlights are plentiful. “Right Now Interlude” has everyone clapping and chanting like they’re in the sacred Church of Owusu; “Death Cult Zombie” is The Clash going hip-hop; and “One 4 All” is an instant classic.
Credit is due to the extremely talented five-piece band bringing the songs to life, but it’s Owusu — sometimes calm, sometimes rabid, but always in control — who is the central magnetic force holding it all together.
He’s a star in every sense of the word, and, based on tonight’s show, another Album of the Year ARIA Award is in his near future. For now, he’ll just have to be content with a performance that everyone in attendance will rave about to all their friends and speak of in highly reverential terms for years to come.
Find Genesis Owusu’s upcoming tour dates here.
