Scroobius Pip v Dan Le Sac
Scala
18.07.07
Scroobius is following me around. I don’t think he likes me slating him in reviews and so turns up as the support act for every hip hop show I go to just to spite me. Even when I took refuge in the bar, the man’s voice was attacking me over the speakers. Bastard. So after half an hour of putting my fingers in my ears and going “lalala I CAN’T HEAR YOU”, he was done and RJ was soon on stage with his band.
RJ’s latest album, The Third Hand, was a big step away from his hip hop roots and it was interesting to see how it would adapt to a live setting, and, though it wasn’t bad, the new songs with the band felt a little pedestrian compared to the older stuff he played. That said, hearing Exotic Talk, from Since We Last Spoke with live guitars and drums gave it that extra lift and pumped heads all over the show.
However, unsurprisingly it was the tracks from Deadringer that made the night as special as it was. Leaving the front of the stage to man the decks at the back, RJ burst out of the blocks with Ghostwriter and later did a great little turntable session where Smoke & Mirrors was laid down and The Horror, which followed a Scooby Doo intro, blared out across the packed out Scala.
“Who knows what tomorrow may bring” sings the sample, and the answer, we all wish, is another RJD2 show.
Abjekt
Photo by Paul Williams.