Black Eyed Peas - The E.N.D. World Tour

Beginning with their brilliant debut in 1998 Behind the Front, the Black Eyed Peas established themselves as a hip-hop powerhouse. Innovative film clips such as the Brian Beletic directed 'Joints & Jams', coupled with eclectic sampling and b-boy sensibilities, pinned them firmly on the hip-hop map. Their follow up, Bridging the Gap, a collaborative album, brought them together with the likes of Esthero, De La Soul and Wyclef Jean and further strengthened their b-boy credentials. Their funk jam 'Request Line' featuring Macy Gray gave them their first taste of commercial success reaching #21 here in Australia.

Their third album Elephunk introduced female vocalist Fergie and catapulted them into the charts simultaneously winning them a string of awards. Two #1 hits in Australia, ‘Where is the Love?' and ‘Shut Up' confirmed them as viable commercial enterprise. During the 2004 MTV Europe Music awards, the Black Eyed Peas were awarded Best Pop Act. Amusingly, upon receiving the award, lead singer will.i.am thanked the crowd for the award but explained that they were in fact a hip-hop act not a pop act. Naturally a debate followed: were the Black Eyed Peas still the same hip-hoppers that released their critically acclaimed debut in 1998?

Taking on a far larger audience, the Black Eyed Peas continued to stray from their b-boy roots with Monkey Business in 2005. Their collection of infectious melodies and party bass-lines earned them another two #1 spots on the Aria Charts with ‘Don't Phunk with my Heart' and ‘My Humps'. Electric world tours along with a solo album from Fergie and a will.i.am collaboration with Michael Jackson further brought them to the forefront of popular culture.

Their latest release is The E.N.D., which stands for "The Energy Never Dies". Described by the Peas themselves as "a lot of dance stuff, real melodic, electronic, soulful. We call it, like, electric static funk", the E.N.D has already produced two #1 hits in the US since it release in June 2009 and sold by the truskload locally.

No matter your opinion on the musical journey of the Black Eyed Peas, their sold-out show this weekend at Acer Arena is not to be missed. Expect everything from hip-hop to break-dancing to R&B, funk, dance and pop; the Peas are the standard bearers for  century popular music. Alexander Knudson