Dizzee Rascal
After feeling the base in your chest for an hour, no one wanted the performance to end.
Dylan Kwabena Mills, known on the stage as ‘Dizzee Rascal’, and to the world of music as an influential pioneer of British rap, hip hop and grime, performed and delivered with fast pace and high energy, last night to the University of East Anglia’s LCR. His ‘We Want Bass’ tour, definitely proved his reputation correct and left his audience desperate for more.
With tickets flying out months prior to the gig, expectations were high. This was not the rappers first rodeo, MBE winner of best innovation, Dizzee Rascal has performed at the LCR twice before. Once was this week in 2008 and before that, in 2004. With an eighteen year gap from his last show, students of Norwich were buzzing to hear the baseline drop and this showed in the venues atmosphere prior to the gig.
Before the gig, the queue snaked round the University grounds, proving the volume of grime fans coming together and getting excited. Despite being long, the energy kept the queue moving. It was full of students and even some who had brought their retired ‘rave-er’ parents along.
There was no officially planned support act, but, shortly after getting through the doors, getting a drink and snapping pics in the photo booth, we had a surprise appearance from ‘Gardna’, Bristol MC. He immediately kicked off the good vibes with his strong stage presence and familiar remixes. The crowd were well and truly hyped as he brought on well known rapper and singer songwriter ‘Professor Green’.
Rascals audience was forming fast, backing all the way up to the bar and standing shoulder to shoulder and balancing on steps in the pit of the venue. ‘Gardna’ managed to get the room of over 1,000 people to crouch down low before jumping up and chanting “we want bass” in unison. It was quickly established that he was the perfect choice to hype up the crowd before Dizzee. He finished off his set with ‘The Prodigy’s’ iconic ‘Out of Space’, leaving the room eager for more and desperate for Dizzee Rascal to take his place as soon as possible.
A buzz floated about the room for half an hour and then the rooms chatter was exploded by a screaming room of fans, who let go of all control. Blue LED’s and smoke machines were a taster of the type of performance we we’re about to witness. Dizzee Rascal and his group bounced across the stage as laser beams projected into the crowd, they opened powerfully with one of his best known tracks ‘Foxtrot Oscar’.
As he introduced himself and welcomed his audience, he proudly led with the fact that he has been performing to Norwich for over 20 years. We then all found ourselves chanting ‘he’s just a rascal. He’s Dizzy Rascal’ over and over before he sang ‘Heavy’, his song, originally performed with ‘Chase & Status’. It did not take long for the room to become filled with the smell of talent…and quite a hint of sweat.
Throughout the performance, Dizzee was amazing at crowd engagement. He kept the crowd alive with chants and instructions like “bounce!” on repeat, to which his loyal followers did. The concert contained a contrast at times, for example, encouraging the crowd to split in half and stick middle fingers up at the opposing side to later acknowledging ‘good times’ and ‘togetherness’.
Dizzee showcased his new album ‘We Want Bass’, throughout, firstly introducing his new tune ‘What you need’, which was quickly followed by a fast pace remix of Melody Washington’s ‘Dirty cash (money talks)’.
Just when we thought the night couldn’t handle any more surprises, American rapper and singer K7 was then brought onto the stage to hype up the crowd, somehow, even more. Fighting for front row paid off for one lucky person, who was tossed Dizzee Rascals cap mid-way through the gig.
The Friday night feeling had only just begun. Dizzee wouldn’t perform his best known tunes for free. The crowd practically begged to hear the iconic base of ‘Baseline Junkie’ by chanting ‘we want bass’ again, over and over in synchronisation until that beat dropped and ‘DJ MK’ hit it. All arms were in the air, most of those gesturing trigger fingers, the crowd’s energy radiating to his iconic tunes.
Cleverly, he had weaved his new album in and out of the set-list, teasing the crowd with newly polished material aswell as the classics – this time, ‘C U Dance’. This was fitting, when he announced “this next ones for my older fans” who yelled back In return – a display of how his music reaches a varied audience.
Not only did his music appeal across all ages, but he asked the crowd “where the ladies at” and “where the fellas at” before dedicating his third and final new track ‘Dance with me’ to his female fans as he reminisced of his younger days “I wrote this song for the ladies”.
With Rascals second ever number one single ‘Bonkers’ still in anticipation, he announced his love for Norwich, joked about building an arena in the city and claimed “I don’t want to wait a year before I come back here ya know”. The disappointment of the night coming to an end was soon put to the back of everyone’s minds when the sound of 2009 hit ‘Bonkers’ started. Chorus and unapologetic lyrics “Some people think I’m bonkers, but I just think I’m free, man I’m just livin’ my life, there’s nothin’ crazy about me”, were sang over and over around five times.
After feeling the base in your chest for an hour, no one wanted the performance to end. I was not a huge Dizzee Rascal fan going in, I didn’t know what to expect as It isn’t my typical genre. I knew it would be good, but in all honestly, I questioned how much I would have paid to see him. HOWEVER, coming out full of energy, adrenaline and a newly founded personality, my mind-set was completely switched and I decided “ok, I definitely would pay to see that again!”. It’s certainly fair to say, the speakers were ON and bass was certainly delivered to Norwich.
