Bouncing out on stage to ‘Jus A Rascal’ it appeared that Dizzee instantly had the crowd under his hip hop spell, yet despite this initial spike in energy Dizzee struggled to keep the audience engaged. More ‘grimey’ songs such as ‘Jezabel’ seemed to fall flat among an audience made up of mainly indie kids and students and his request for Liverpool to ‘make some noise’ was met with a fairly lukewarm response. Yet despite this struggle, it was quite clear that Dizzee was not about to give up. Shouting out to the audience ‘Do you want me to freestyle?’ he was answered with an almost enthusiastic cheer and, after a short time, his hypnotically fast rapping over MIA’S ‘Paper Planes’ picked up what was beginning to seem a rather sombre affair. With the crowd slowly beginning to rouse, Dizzee launched into better known tracks ‘Fix Up, Look Sharp’ and ‘Flex’ with powerful vigour. Stripping down to just a pair of jeans, Dizzee and his sidekick quite literally bounced around the stage like toddlers with too many E numbers in them and, before long, this enthusiasm had spread through the room.
This new found energy was sustained as Dizzee broke into new track ‘Bonkers’ a rather surprising collaboration with Armand Van Helden. This high velocity trance-like track brought out the ravers in the crowd and soon had everyone a little bit sweaty, reminding us all that Dizzee still hasn’t run out of tricks to pull from his sleeve. New track ‘Cash Money’ also went down well with the crowd, but it was his potent classics ‘Old School’ and ‘Stand Up Tall’ that, with their chest rattling bass and undeniably catchy chorus’s, reminds us just why Dizzee Rascal’s mantelpiece is groaning under the weight of his awards.
The night most definitely ended on a bouncing high as the audience finally let themselves go to the unashamedly poppy summer hit ‘Dance Wiv Me’, and as the throng of sweaty bodies pour out for fresh air it seems they have forgotten their original hostility and been well and truly been enchanted by the grime magic of Dizzee Rascal.
Dizzee Rascal was part of the MTV Liverpool Music Week, the UK’s largest indoor winter music festival which continues until tomorrow night around the city. For more information on all the gigs visit [link]>
