Loyle Carner
Fresh from the release of his debut album, UK hip hop’s rising champion Loyle Carner returned to Norwich for the second time in five months last night at The Waterfront. Yesterday’s Gone debuted impressively on the iTunes chart at number five, and it translates excellently into a live performance.
Norwich’s Maya Law started the night, a young girl with a voice beyond her years, also performing off the back of her recently released debut album. A great choice of warm-up act, her tracks are ultra laidback and impressively produced by musical partner Allergy Kid. If I was being picky I’d say her stagecraft needs some maturing, but that will of course happen if she gets more chances to support acts like Loyle Carner. An undeniable talent definitely worth keeping an eye on.
Madik MC followed suit with chilled bars and a calm confidence on stage. Unfortunately a lot of the younger members of the crowd took this opportunity to have a catch up instead of appreciating a new artist, but to his credit this did not stop Madik from a professional and committed performance. Halfway through his set, his DJ cut the music and Madik launched into an intelligent and insightful slam-poetry style section, decrying the state of society with clarity and passion.
After starting the night with album opener The Isle Of Arran, Carner exclaimed to the crowd “fucking hell this is a big room”. But to tell the truth, it already feels like Carner is too big for the whole affair, which made it feel like an even bigger privilege to see him in a smaller venue like The Waterfront. On stage he is sharp but smooth, confident but humbled too. Yesterday’s Gone is an album of intense emotions, none of which are lost in his live performance. From the melancholy Mean It In The Morning, to the warm hazy relaxation of No Worries, a track featuring Carner’s DJ and producer Rebel Kleff who jumps on the mic and takes to the stage himself.
Carner was sick from start to finish, and with every track on the album being quality in its own right, every song in the live set was a high point. I thought it was particularly impressive to resist the temptation to end with his biggest track NO CD, instead leaving the crowd with the highly personal Sun Of Jean, a song which samples music produced by Carner’s late father. The song ends with Carner’s mother reading a poem about him, which is performed by herself in a video played as her son walks off stage. An ending true to himself as an artist and one highly deserving of respect. Overall, one of the best performances of a debut album I’ve ever seen.
