Loyle Carner
Loyle Carner is a ‘nice guy’. Everyone knows it, whenever I mentioned that I was going to see him live that comment was made. This is not a criticism, but in a scene where macho bullshit is currency it’s interesting that Loyle is happy to truly be himself and not care about what he’s ‘supposed to do’. That said, on record at least, with a few notable exceptions, I’ve yet to fully get on board with him, so was genuinely looking forward to seeing whether he could justify all the hype that surrounds him at the moment.
Unfortunately I didn’t really give myself enough time to engage with support act Elise & Srigala so can’t report much, other than to say they appeared to go down pretty well with the young crowd. Most interesting of all perhaps was the fact that during their set someone decided to shout some sexist comments at Elise, which understandably did not go down well. I know this because when Loyle Carner came onstage, he got the guy kicked out and banned from the venue. Respect Loyle – it felt entirely correct and natural, and knowing my daughter was somewhere in the crowd made me feel particularly happy that she was in an environment where the artist has a zero tolerance policy and is prepared to stand up for it – again, respect Loyle.
The stage was set up like a living room, with just DJ, and on occasion co-rapper, Rebel Kleff for company. The show got off to a great start with Isle Of Arran’s gospel choir sample getting the audience singing along. The sound was excellent, his voice in perfect sync with the music, and his reaction to the crowd was genuine, saying at one point that Norwich had been the best audience on the tour so far – and it felt like he meant it. I liked the fact that songs that on record are a bit low key, worked well live – The Seamstress for example. Yes, the energy levels in the crowd dipped a bit, but it never felt like he didn’t have us all in the palm of his hand. I love how open he is about how important family is to him – whether it’s the pain of the death of his Dad, or the influence of his Mum in his life. I doubt there were many other parents in the room last night and I found this aspect of his music and show very powerful – I can’t imagine my own kids not having me in their lives by the time they get to Loyle’s age.
Most importantly though the gig felt like a pure hip-hop show and was totally authentic; the jazzy inflections on tracks such as Ain’t Nothing Changed definitely took me back to the 90s golden age. Being a part of such an overwhelmingly positive live music experience was jubilant. Last song NO CD gave everyone the opportunity for one final chance to sing before Loyle left the stage to thunderous applause.
In a genre where your ‘G’ credentials can be all important I came away absolutely convinced by Loyle – a lot of thought has obviously gone into putting on this live show and it’s gratifying to see him reaping the rewards of his refreshing approach to his music.
