Gig Review: Tinie Tempah

The day after the NME Awards Tour I went to go and see Tinie Tempah at Wolverhampton Civic Hall. Tinie is probably my favourite British rapper right now and this night definitely cemented that...

Supporting Tinie for this date was new UK Grime artists Krept & Konan. After their track "Don't Waste My Time" came out I've been hearing them everywhere. I do love that one song but must admit I don't think I'd heard any others before going. They really killed it though - great performance. The crowd was jumping, everybody getting ready for the main event. My friends and I were seated for these supports and the atmosphere was just horrible - sitting will never compare to standing at a gig - so we went downstairs to stand for Tinie Tempah.

The wait was just the right amount of time, the crowd was becoming restless and a little bit rowdy just as the lights dimmed and the opening song came on. Before long, lights were flashing around the stage, with both Tinie and the band stood behind a curtain, so that their silhouettes were illuminated onto it. As the curtain fell and the intro to "Lover Not A Fighter" came in, everyone was buzzing. You could tell just from the initial crowd reaction, that it was going to be a great night. I also have to take this moment to mention how much I loved Tinie's first outfit (pictured below), suave as well as "space-age" - yes.

I digress. Between the onstage banter from Tinie and the band, they played through huge bangers like "Frisky", "Wonderman", "Trampoline" and "Don't Sell Out", and I was completely loving it. The crowd was really engaged, jumping about, waving their arms and one member of the crowd even FaceTiming their friend the concert! Spirits were just super high and Tinie kept them that way. What I found nice throughout the set is that Tinie actually chatted with the crowd, and explained some of the background and origin to his songs. It gave the show a really personal element and it actually felt like more of a party than a show. He slowed things down in the middle with "A Heart Can Save The World", "Heroes" and "It's OK", before hitting the immense climactic finish with basically every track you could imagine. It's crazy to think that he could put together a set like this with just two albums out! The set ended with the crowd chanting the lyrics to "Tsunami". During this final song, the band came out from behind their instruments, did a shot on stage with Tinie and performed a little routine to the song - it was just brilliant... definitely brought a smile to my face.

To be honest the set actually could have ended there and I would have been happy, but of course, the encore was killer - performing Rita Ora's "R.I.P." and a song from Demonstration - "Mosh Pit" - which of course sparked a huge pit. This had me elated to be honest - I think that this is the first R&B/Rap gig that I've been to where there has been a mosh pit. Tinie really just sets himself apart from other rappers nowadays and of course he brought the fantastic night to a close with the iconic "Pass Out".

Overall Rating - 8.5/10


Here are some pictures from the night...