Old Blue Last
31.07.06
Picture the scene – An upstairs room full of trendy people. I’m talking about the Vice reading, stupid hair-cut wearing, tight trouser brigade. What the hell are they doing at a show for a grime MC? The answer is I have no idea. But regardless, we plonked ourselves right at the front of the stage whilst half of the trendy lot chatted away with their backs to the stage, and Marv The Marsh hit the stage.
Marv, a small fella, hopped on the stage with his giant hype man Jack Nimble [of Marv’s WhyLout? Crew] and immediately placed his props on the stage, the most prominent of which was an old phone that kept ringing throughout the set so he could link tracks with conversations to various people. It’s original and it works, big points for that.
The bass pounded immediately with Around The Way, the track that infamously samples a motorbike and my head was thrust back and forth by the sheer weight of the bassline, but I wasn’t complaining, it would’ve been rocking regardless. The sample led Reymell was another great part of the set, the guitars pumping out as the little and large team bopped around the stage rapping hard to be heard over the sound. And with lyrics about smacking your little brother for jacking your SNES, you know you’re in for a treat.
Stay Off The Kane, a track which apparently makes Marv the maestro of “Grindie” [ignore this, we don’t want to discredit the guy] comes along with another prop – this time an umbrella as Marv marches along Dick Van Dyke style around the stage and the biggest track that he has penned yet, I Don’t Go Alone brought the show to a great close. One minute the song makes him hang his head and shake his head, the next minute the MC is pumping his chest and blasting the verses out.
Zap Zap! The martian came from South London and he blew it up at the pub full of trendies. He keeps going on like that and he’s gonna be my new hero!