Music > Live Reviews

Giggs

The Nick Rayns LCR, UEA

21/04/17

Just a week after Stormzy’s visit to the LCR it was the turn of Giggs to bring the grime to the provinces, and I was keen to find out how the much more experienced artist would compare. After some warm up selections from DJ Firestarr we had a quick succession of guest rappers playing brief twenty minute sets. First up was Stoner, the UK’s only blind grime MC he told us, having lost his sight only two years ago. Tough break is an understatement, but it’s good that he’s continuing with his career and he got a warm response from the crowd. Next it was Pressa who was absolutely appalling. A Canadian trap artist associated with Drake, his act appeared to consist of having his own songs played, including the vocal, while he occasionally joined in with his whiney voice – seriously, bafflingly bad and he left the stage to zero reaction. Joe Grind was next and he was a vast improvement, fast paced London grime, he got some energy into the room which was taken up another level by Blade Brown. Much more in tune with the kind of music Giggs makes, he showed his experience and by the end of his slot the crowd were hyped and ready. Odd then that we still had 45 minutes before the main man was due onstage, but some seriously heavy bass tunes continued to ramp up the excitement.

It’s been a while since I’ve been to a gig with a curtain drop – the ta-da moment when the stage set is revealed, but we got one last night. The reveal was a backdrop with a mocked up building front referencing the front cover of latest album Landlord. Giggs bounded onstage and the LCR exploded. Having a venue packed full of youthful exuberance makes for a remarkable experience; lyrics are sung along to, mosh pits consume the entire dancefloor and the energy is something to behold. Poor sound had hampered the support acts and for a lot of his set Giggs’s vocals were too low in the mix, but it did improve and his deep slow flow cut through the music. It was brilliantly loud, the bass was thundering and he completely managed to transfer the vibe of a club to a concert hall. On some tracks he was joined by some of the supports - Aystar joined him to do his verses on The Best, tracks off the new album like Lock Doh and Whippin’ Excursion sounded heavy and ominous and older classics like Look What The Cat Dragged In were absolutely immense.

The more I listen to grime the more I appreciate it, but equally the more it frustrates me – the genre tropes are so clichéd it’s rare to find an artist that breaks free of them. Giggs certainly doesn’t and I wasn’t sure how well his act would come across live, but quite simply this was the best live grime show I’ve ever been to. Kano had set the previous high watermark but the Landlord took it to a whole new level, giving the best example I’ve yet seen of how to perform this music in the perfect live setting, delivering not just 2017’s best gig so far, but one of the very best I’ve seen in recent years.