After the billed support act foolishly pulled out of this sold-out-for-weeks-show the original Solesides producer/performer DJ Shadow knew he would have to pull something special out of the bag to make up for it. And he did.
Before any of the MCs took the stage he treated us to a 12-song set of finest UK hip-hop, ranging from DJ Mellow to the London Posse. He even gave away a copy of his 'Schoolhouse Funk' mix to anyone in the audience who could name three artists in the set. No one could, but nevertheless he gave the revered piece of vinyl away to the first person in the chaotic front row who got at least one right.
When Lyrics Born finally arrived on stage, after a blazing instrumental set from Shadow, the crowd erupted, egged on by both the relentless breaks and the dexterity of his rapping tongue. One by one, the other MCs arrived on stage (Lateef and Gift Of Gab), and Chief Excel also joined Shadow behind the quadruple deck set up at the back of the stage.
After old-school west coast classics like 'Rhymes For The Deaf, Dumb and Blind' and tracks from the Muzapper's mixes EP, more recent and well-known triumphs such as 'I Changed My Mind' were attacked with the kind of vigour normally associated with punk. Tonight this venue was indeed Quannum Hall.
Mid-way through the set all the MCs left the stage leaving DJ Shadow to perform his seminal 'Hardcore (Instrumental) Hip-Hop'. Although the man himself looked somewhat disgruntled by this section of the show, the way he utilised a sampler to scratch and play that scratch simultaneously backwards over the top was breathtaking for a UK audience not familiar with such skills. When he then sped up and slowed down that sampled scratch along with a fresh mix from the other deck, eyes popped out of heads.
Admittedly the group weren't exactly playing to a mixed race audience, and many of those were only there for a rare glimpse of the man who brought us 'Endtroducing'. But by the end of the evening, after a consistently strong 2 and a quarter hour set, there was not one person in that hall who had not been literally moved, or at least squashed.
