MUSIC
BODY COUNT ★★★★
Margaret Court Arena, June 2
Reviewed by Martin Boulton
![Body Count.](http://web.archive.org./web/20170605200152im_/https://www.fairfaxstatic.com.au/content/dam/images/g/v/5/p/h/i/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gwj07m.png/1496581963712.jpg)
In a week when the venue named in honour of former tennis great Margaret Court made worldwide news, it was legendary rapper, actor and very heavy rock fan Ice-T who held court in front of a mostly male audience dressed head to toe in black.
It's been more than two decades since Ice-T brought his punk and thrash metal-inspired band Body Count to Melbourne and despite being far from the original line-up, it was an authentic, no-holds-barred performance of frenzied, foot-to-the-floor rock from early '90s tracks There Goes the Neighbourhood to the Raining in Blood/Postmortem cover of Slayer.
Prior to Ice-T, original guitarist Ernie C and newer members including Juan of the Dead on guitar and drummer Ill Will arriving on stage, local rap duo A.B. Original proved an inspired warm-up on a chilly night, surely winning some new fans.
Ice-T made his name in the '80s as a rapper from South Central Los Angeles before the first of Body Count's albums was released in 1992. The group's latest, Bloodlust, came out just months ago and The Ski Mask Way and Black Hoodie from Bloodlust got a solid run this night.
Body Count, like Ice-T's rap career, has had its own share of controversy, songs such as the show's closer Cop Killer and KKK Bitch not exactly in line with Margaret Court's recently stated moral position. Rather, it's life as seen from the gritty streets of LA, where violence, crime and inequality have been the basis for much of Body Count's repertoire over nearly three decades. Ill Will's pulverising drums, the non-stop attack of guitars and ongoing hail of profane lyrics about victimisation and America's class war don't pull any punches.
The anthemic, eponymous Body Count from the first album was a huge favourite, the crowd joining the chorus with "I hear it every night, another gunfight, the tension mounts, on with the Body Count" as Ice-T prowled the stage.
There's humour between the onslaught of aggression and dark theatre too, the frontman telling a teenager in the crowd he'd been "a cop on TV your whole" before launching into another angst-soaked, typically pissed off Ice-T tirade. Some things never get tiring.