A couple of weeks ago a friend and I went to see Fuse ODG perform live at The Library, Birmingham. Of course, pretty much the entirety of the UK has heard of him or at least heard one of his radio hits and so I was intrigued to see whether a live show of his would actually be a live show or just end up feeling like a club appearance.
To my surprise the evening was hosted by the comedian Eddie Kadi, so when he stepped on stage to get the crowd hyped up and laughing I already had a good feeling about the night. Accompanied by DJ Naija Boy, the two of them managed to keep the unique edge and fun atmosphere flowing steadily throughout the night. In keeping with this unique theme, there was not one, but FOUR support acts!
The first of these was Mikel Ameen (aka World Changer Rap). Although I wasn't a huge fan of his rapping at points, he had some great and encouraging lyrics which is something you definitely do not hear everyday from a rapper so that kept me engaged. His set was the perfect amount of time to keep fans interested and interactive, and he had a lot of energy himself which helped. Download his album World Changer for free here.
Next up was another UK based rapper called Dun D. I definitely felt like his rapping was below par on more than one occasion however, his beats scored him a few points throughout his set. The tracks that he performed were way too repetitive, and there were some moments during the set where he would get the crowd to shout out a word with him and the crowd would stop a while before him thinking they'd said it enough times. In contrast to Mikel Ameen, Dun D had me looking at my watch ready for the next act before he'd finished performing.
London Connection (aka LDNC) were up next and they killed it! I've heard their latest song "Zagada" playing at clubs and parties for a while now so when they came on stage and performed it, for the first time since the beginning of the show I was buzzing. As well as good performers, they are great dancers and that was entertaining to say the least. The crowd went crazy for them, not sure whether it was for their songs or for that fact that they showed some skin but either way, they didn't disappoint.
Finally, for the only support act that I was actually expecting - Mista Silva - and as expected, he smashed it! His songs just force you to dance and he is definitely a crowdpleaser. Every song was chosen and placed to get the biggest reaction from the crowd and when he performed "Boomboomtah" (collaboration with the creators of "Wo Onane No") the place erupted. Hands waving everywhere, people azonto-ing - just a huge party. Great way to leave the vibe before Fuse ODG appeared.
After what had already been a show in itself, the man of the hour arrived and the crowd went ballistic! As well as performing his huge hits - "Dangerous Love", "Million Pound Girl", "Azonto" and "Antenna" he also performed a lot of the tracks on his debut album, T.I.N.A released last week. If I'm honest, a lot of his lesser known songs were actually a lot better than I'd expected. In particular I liked "Bucket Full Of Sunshine". The whole set had a church vibe to it, his band playing big gospel riffs and fills (the rhythms section had a lot to do with this). This isn't a bad thing, I was just surprised to come in expecting a club environment and ending up in a church one - great musicianship either way. The whole evening was packed with energy, laughs and fun. This night definitely upped my opinion of Fuse in general.
Overall Rating - 7.5/10
Here are some pictures from the night...
0 comments:
Post a Comment