Bass that you can feel in your stomach and strobes that could send light down the darkest of caves could only describe the anticipation that myself and over a thousand other ravers were feeling tonight. The whole atmosphere consumed you; and the current kings of mainstream DnB/ Dubstep Chase and Status hadn’t even stepped foot on stage yet.
As the imminent arrival of the DJ act Nero drew closer, the volume of people in the intimate surroundings of The Cube grew. Nero provided a plethora of dirty beats and had each member of the crowd dancing without a care.
At 11.40 Chase and Status were greeted on to stage with mass cheers from the crowd. The room had turned electric in an instant as they broke into ‘Smash TV’ it was as if they had been given an injection of energy.
MC Rage created a feel good energy rather than an assault to your ear drums with bar and bar of lines. He performs ‘to’ the crowd instead of ‘at’ the crowd which in the live band environment is something which is now taking a trend. The crowd being a slightly older crowd than the norm so far on the C&S tour were still rather vocal and very active. Granted at times it would get rough and you would find yourself part of a crush, but it didn’t take away the presence of the music performed from Chase and Status’ high charting album ‘More Than A Lot’.
One of the “tracks of the night” came surprisingly early on in the set; ‘Eastern Jam’ would easily be one of the two highlights. Not only have I found this to be a fan favorite at DJ sets but now also at the live show. Its popular synth line echoed through the building and the crowd began to bounce slowly off each other. During the vocal lines it also seemed comical to witness the crowd attempting to sing-along with the Indian style vocals. But no-one cared, tonight – anything goes.
‘Against All Odds’ ft Kano seemed to become another heavy hit with the female attendance shining throughout the song with some very interesting moves. The volume of the crowd almost over-powering Kano’s recording throughout and Will and Saul’s faces reflecting excitement of the clear support they were greeted with from their fans in the crowd.
Half way through the gig, and a very familiar face is spotted lurking towards the side of the stage. The mighty Plan B has arrived and begins to distract many of the front row. That anticipating feeling grew again as everyone knew that a smash hit was going to appear on the stage. Before any of that could happen, Chase and Status played a few of their less popular tracks which still kept the crowd fully engaged. The bass was thumping non-stop and the show was heading for a massive finale. The remix of Nneka’s hit Heartbeat threw the crowd back into a crush as Saul jumped onto the guitar and rocked out the chorus first hand. The lighting added a huge glowing feel around the stage which porteayed the vibes to a tee and gave Chase and Status a magnificent aura. Words cant describe the temperature in the Cube that night as everyone seemed to be drenched in sweat and even the doors to the balcony were opened up to relieve the crowd from producing higher tempratues.
It was now time to welcome Plan B to the stage. He gave us a performance of ‘End Credits’ the theme song of the new film ‘Harry Brown’ starring Michael Cane. It wasn’t a widely know track, but was welcomed with open arms and the punchy drums took the crowd by surprise after the soft and mellow opening vocals from Plan B. Then finally, the moment the majority were waiting for, the ‘Track of the night’, the finale, arguably Chase and Status’ most popular single. ‘Pieces’ turned the room into a giant mosh – not a dry face in the room. ‘You don’t care, about me, anymore’ Plan B opened the track as the bass exploded in your face and only to turn the room into a frenzy by the drop.
Kaos had been mass produced and DJ Friction stepped up to the decks only to have a tough job to follow that live set. Frictions track selection was something that only really included hit after hit to slowly start to bring the crowd down into a more relaxed vibe. The king of Shogun audio was having to calm the crowd instead of his usual climax sets.
All in all a brilliant night and safe to say that this time by 2am everyone was more than happy to leave the venue without the riots that C&S brought last time.
Review by Jessica Macdonald
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