Fresh off the plane and returning to the land down under for the second time, Post Malone kicked off his Australian tour at the Perth RAC Arena last night.

The city was heaving with bustling fans as we made our way to the venue in an Uber. We couldn’t help but notice the age of other concert goers; bright-eyed and made-up to the nines, they swigged on cans of rose-cider while flocking toward the Arena in cliques.

What’s more, the row in front of us seated a doting father with his teen daughter and her friends, snapchat-ing themselves mouthing to the lyrics of Drugs and Pain by the first supporting act, Tyla Yaweh. I definitely didn’t expect a face-tattooed ‘Rock star’ rapper like Post Malone to attract this crowd, but then again, mainstream charts are crawling with his tracks.

Jaden Smith was the second supporting act to grace the stage, generating a high-pitched scream from the female fans. The 20-year-old rapper finished off his short but energetic set with ICON, the music video of which was famously remade by his highly amused yet proud father, Will Smith.

Screams were definitely the loudest when the main act, Austin Richard Post aka Post Malone sprang on stage. Dressed in a white ensemble, embellished with traditional American tattoo illustrations, his own name and even an Aussie flag, he yelled: “Perth, what the f—k is up?”

As fireworks went off, he launched straight into Too Young, following with other big hits like Candy Paint, Wow and Psycho—setting the 15,000 fans into a frenzy.

But despite the fireworks, fire, state-of-the-art laser light spectacles, and bass that you could literally feel to your core, Post Malone was most remarkable when he pulled out his acoustic guitar. Playing Stay, he bared his real, stripped back vocals.

There were plenty of zesty repartees and frisky stunts to accompany his music. The 23-year-old sparked up during song, smashed a guitar on stage and even did a ‘shoey’ from a fan’s sneaker—after last night I am no longer surprised at his appeal to the young demographic.

“He’s absolutely cooked,” said someone sitting behind us.

The soundtrack from the new Spider-Man animated movie, Sunflower was one of the last few of the night and by this stage, most of the seated crowd were up and swaying.

Before breaking into the tune that launched his career, the Texan-rapper said White Iverson was “probably the only good track [he] ever made.” Though critiqued for being more pop than rap, you have to admire Post Malone for his short rise to fame, uploading his first song to Soundcloud just four years ago.

Before wrapping up, ‘Postie’ told us about his haters and those that told him he’d never make it during his early career.

“But it’s okay now,” he said, “cause I see those people every day and all they say is ‘congratu-f—ing-lations’.”

He gave a big grin, and just like that he sprung into the last tune of the night, Congratulations—giving a high-fuelled last performance and leaving the young crowd with a somewhat inspiring message.

“Have a kickass night and a kickass life,” he said before dropping the mic and walking off stage.