++GIG REVIEW++
Last week we snuck two of our finest troopers into Somerset House to witness their annual gig showcase. Click here for Mat Beal on the hip hop flash of Lupe Fiasco, and Kevin Perry on the troubled live ditherings of UNKLE...
LUPE FIASCO
by Mat Beal
A bird settles on top of a flagpole, the sweet smell of marijuana wafts gently in the balmy summer evening breeze, and Lupe Fiasco bounds onto stage in a nice suit. He’s one of British Esquire’s best-dressed men of 2008, you know. We know this, because he tells us.
He launches into an opening salvo of ‘No Lies’ and ‘Kick, Push’, setting the pace for a set of highlights from his two albums, which goes down well with a youngish, eclectic crowd. Live hip-hop used to be patchy at best, but that seems to be changing of late. Lupe has an engaging, slightly rock star-ish stage presence, and he is backed on this tour by a tight six-person band.
Mr Fiasco is flawlessly charming throughout, regaling us with tales of his early days playing shitty clubs in London and generally waxing lyrical about the city. “I love it all: I love Brixton, I love Westminster, I love, er… Piccadilly Circus,” he says as he leads into ‘Paris, Tokyo’.
The only point when he loses our attention slightly is at the end of the gig, when he follows a drawn-out version his biggest hit ‘Superstar’ with a lengthy coda in which he thanks each of his bandmates in turn and which, to be honest, we could have done without. But we’ll forgive him.
So, a pleasant evening, the best live music venue in London (albeit only for a couple of weeks in the summer), and one of the most interesting rappers in the world. Can it get any better? Yes: as we step out onto the Strand, our bus is waiting for us. Result!
UNKLE
by Kevin Perry
UNKLE may have started out as trip-hop pioneers, but tonight they are playing at being guitar-wielding kings of rock. They have the epic sound. They have the Heritage Orchestra onstage. They even have a long haired guitarist throwing himself about and assuming classic rock poses.
But they seem to be missing a front man – or rather, they have too many. UNKLE have always thrived on guest collaborations, which is a tricky thing to recreate live.
One early highlight, 'Reign' for example, sees King Monkey himself Ian Brown appears only as a voice and a video, although the swelling strings almost make up for his absence. James Lavelle (one constant in the ever-shifting UNKLE line up), attempts to provide a focal point, but despite jumping around the stage in a beanie hat and sunglasses he’s not a natural front man.
Gavin Clark, a long-time UNKLE collaborator, appears on a number of tracks and fills in for Richard Ashcroft on 'Lonely Souls'. He cuts it as a vocalist but seems awkward fronting such a huge sound. The opposite problem afflicts The Duke Spirit's Liela Moss, who joins them for 'Mayday'. She is a charismatic front woman, but her voice is lost amidst the music.
On record they may have established themselves as royalty, but as a live proposition UNKLE are still pretenders to the crown.
READ PART TWO HERE
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Artrocker rating: 3
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