 to be welcomed by turntable legend and former ITF (International Turntable Federation) champ Jazz T (of Diversion Tactics) spinning some choice hip hop to keep […] "'Pin It")
REVIEW: PUBLIC ENEMY AT MOTION, BRISTOL (28/10/12)
I got to Motion slightly late having found a tiny corner to park a short distance from the venue (parking seems to be quite a premium close to the Motion complex) to be welcomed by turntable legend and former ITF (International Turntable Federation) champ Jazz T (of Diversion Tactics) spinning some choice hip hop to keep the sold out crowd happy in the way that he does best.
There seemed to be an interesting cross section of people from students to ‘ahem’, slightly older people in the crowd and keeping all of them happy is (speaking from experience) quite an ordeal. I was expecting a warehouse type venue to have some problems when it comes to the sound system but somehow they’ve managed to get it sounding pretty good – quite a rarity when it comes to hip hop gigs.
Next up was one of the more prolific and better UK Hip Hop artists, Jehst with Jazz T staying put to assist on turntable duties, who opened with Starting Over which imediately seemed to go down well with the crowd. Jehst then proceeded to unleash a solid set of his best material including Nuke Proof Suit which had the crowd nodding away wherever I could see, which shows why he has been able to maintain a steady output of material over the last decade.
It was one of those strange gigs where a CD is played by the soundman while the artists change over, which always seems to ruin a bit of the continuity of the gig for me. Possibly due to my underground hip hop upbringing that hates periods of nothing happening. Maybe it’s normal for bands changing over but generally not DJ’s.
Following up with possibly the strangest DJ set i’ve ever witnessed (at a hip hop concert) was Kutmah. He was untilzing quite a unique string of beats that although appeared to be seemlessly dropped from one to the next, also seemed quite dislocated from one to the next. Anyone who likes big woobly basslines will love this guy where modern glitch style beats meet sounds from who knows where to interesting effect. Not really my bag and seemingly not translating to the audience in the same way that Jazz T was doing earlier. I don’t think he suits being stuck between two hip hop acts and I think quite a proportion of the crowd will agree as he seemed to be having more fun than anyone stood anywhere near me.
Now for the main event which I am now presuming is going to be superb from previous experience. Public Enemy have been crafting the finest in militant hip hop since 1987 and Chuck D delivers his vocals with the same vigour and style as if it’s the very first Public Enemy show. At 52 (and apparantly only the 5th oldest on stage!) Chuck D jumps around the stage and slashes the air with his microphone putting many a young cat to shame. As is traditional Flavor Flav joins the procedings 5 minutes into the show and also has lost none of the enthusiasm for rocking the show that he’s always had. Chuck introduces the band which includes the legendary Davy DMX on Bass, who in the bassist solo part of the show rocks some classic Davy DMX basslines for those of us that remember them in a nice twist to a PE show.
Since Terminator X retired from PE in 1999 DJ Lord has more than amply filled the space behind the decks and his mid show routine of him tearing up The White Stripes even though it was raining inside the venue, was superb! They run
through nearly all of the classics referencing all of PE’s albums from Public Enemy No.1 right up to tracks from the pair of 2012’s albums. The only thing that’s missing from Public Enemy’s live show now that they have the live band is the screaming sampled horns that have given them their trademark sound but this is easy to forgive when they rock as well as they do.
Words and photo: Mr Fantastic
