Month: July 2024

Review:  Black Uhuru – Jazz Café London [24 July 2024]

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Black Uhuru were:

  • Derrick ‘Duckie’ Simpson – Vocals
  • Andrew Bees – Lead vocals
  • Elsa Green – backing vocals
  • Supported by some old black session musicians (bass/drums/keyboards/rhythm guitar) and a white dude with tattoos on lead guitar.

Luckily I saw the classic lineup of Black Uhuru in 1982 at Wembley Stadium supporting the Rolling Stones (alas I recall nothing from the day).  These days only Duckie remains as the stalwart holding their formidable legacy together so I was really looking forward to seeing them.

A sweaty night in the small but packed Jazz café in Camden finally saw the return of Black Uhuru (and about bloody time given all the previous cancellations!!).  Duckie and Andrew are a total contrast. Duckie barely moves, totally laid back, and just adds the odd bit of singing when required until he takes over lead vocals towards the end of the gig and even then barely breaks into a sweat.  Andrew on the other hand is a dynamic live wire, doing all the reggae moves and engaging the audience in singalongs.  He certainly has stage presence!  The rest of the band basically blend into the background (most with their dreads hidden in their tams), doing their job with minimum fuss.  They are a solid unit – pulsing repetitive hypnotic bass/drum really driving the beat for the whole evening.

Duckie’s performance was pretty much that of an interested bystander watching and conducting his band.  There were a number of occasions when Andrew had to restart a song, band obviously out of step, so they hadn’t had sufficient time to practice for this gig?  Not that this bothered the mixed crowd who danced and sang along enveloped in the rhythmic sound.

Set List (Click on the links to see the YouTube videos)
These are the songs I remember:

  1. I Love King Selassie – (Live, 1984)
  2. What Is Life? – (Anthem, 1984)
  3. Shine Eye Gal – (Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, 1983)
  4. Plastic Smile – (Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, 1983)
  5. Black Uhuru Anthem – (Anthem, 1984)
  6. As The World Turns – (As The World Turns, 2018)
  7. Spectrum – (Strongg, 1994)
  8. General Penitentiary – (Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, 1983)
  9. Sponji Reggae – (Red, 1981)

Encore

  1. Solidarity – (Anthem, 1984)
  2. Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner – (Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, 1983)
  3. Happiness – (Sinsemilla, 1980)
  4. Sinsemilla – (Sinsemilla, 1980)

The nearly 2 hour set was sprinkled with classic hits from their 80’s heyday and newer tracks from their last LP.  Some tracks were elongated into a rhythmic jam with the groove simply moving your body to the beat.  The diverse audience of young/old black/white is a testament to Black Uhuru’s enduring reggae greats legacy.  The band and audience connected on many levels (umm is that dope I smell?), there is a timeless appeal to their music.

All in all it was a night to celebrate Black Uhuru as true ambassadors of ‘proper’ reggae. Thank you Duckie for keeping the fire burning!

Marko [29 July 2024]

Review: Body Count live at the O2 Forum Kentish Town – 30 June 2024 (Merciless Tour)

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Amidst the sirens and flashing blue and red lights the Gangsta rap metal boys from south central LA launch tonight’s sonic onslaught with “Body Count’s in the House” or their eponymous 1st LP and for the next 90 minutes the noise never lets up.  It’s no frills, Rock N Roll! 

The tone for the night was set as they launched into Slayer’s ‘Raining Blood/Postmortem’, then ripping into ‘Bowels of the Devil’, and ‘There Goes the Neighborhood’ before introducing us to a new song ‘The Purge’.   Ice-T told the crowd that he judges how good Body Count concerts are by how brutal the mosh pits are. Que circle in the pit ready for the mayhem about to begin for a new song written especially for a good old mosh ‘The Purge’.  To be fair the pit started on the very first song and continues throughout the night – high-energy moshing, circle pits, crowd surfers and beer flying everywhere.  Fun to watch.

Ice dedicated “Manslaughter” to the death of real men “ladies have you noticed your man has a vagina” and “they have more products on the cosmetics shelf than you” 😊..   ‘Necessary Evil’ and ‘Psychopath’ were ace, for the latter Ice took off his cap and put tights over his face – very bank robber!  “Talk Shit, Get Shot” and “No Lives Matter” are great singalongs before the last song ‘Cop Killer’ brought mayhem and middle fingers in the air along with an impressively loud ‘F**K the police’ chorus.

Body Count Set list (click on links to see YouTube videos)

  1. Body Count’s in the House – (Body Count, 1992)
  2. Raining Blood / Postmortem – (Slayer cover)
  3. Bowels of the Devil – (Body Count, 1992)
  4. There Goes the Neighborhood – (Body Count, 1992)
  5. The Purge – (Merciless, 2024)
  6. Point the Finger – (Carnivore, 2020)
  7. Manslaughter – (Manslaughter, 2014)
  8. Necessary Evil – (Born Dead, 1994)
  9. Psychopath – (Merciless, 2024)
  10. No Lives Matter – (Bloodlust, 2017)
  11. War / UK 82 / Disorder – (Exploited Cover)
  12. Drive By – (Born Dead, 1994)
  13. Voodoo – (Body Count, 1992)
  14. Talk Shit, Get Shot – (Manslaughter, 2014)
  15. Cop Killer – (Body Count, 1992)

Encore

  1. Born Dead – (Born Dead, 1994)
  2. This is Why We Ride – (Bloodlust, 2017)
  3. Comfortably Numb ‘rap’ – (Merciless, 2024)

Ice then introduced us to what he said he invented i.e. a virtual encore.  Basically at 66 he’s too old to piss off backstage only to come back on so the lights are dimmed for 15 seconds, the band pretended to leave the stage before turning around and playing ‘Born Dead’.  He then explained revenge is the answer to killings and not reporting them to the police and engaged us to listen to the lyrics of ‘This is Why We Ride’.  They were about to call it quits but as the crowd was so good they agreed to play one last new song.  He teased us about what band they would cover this time and to everyone’s surprise it was Pink Floyd.  A wonderful rap full of emotive lyrics that make your hair stand on end all to the sounds of ‘Comfortably Numb’ – what a fucking way to go out, seismic – check out the video link.  This will be a staple set finisher for years to come a total classic on first hearing.  “Can you mother fuckers hear me?”.

Review Body Count playing "Cop Killer" live at the O2 Forum Kentish Town 30 June 2024

Body Count are:

  • Ice-T – Lead vocal
  • Ernie C – Lead guitar
  • Vincent Price – Bass
  • Juan Garcia – Rhythm guitar
  • Will “Ill Will” Dorsey Jnr – Drums
  • Sean E. Sean – Vocals
  • Little Ice – Vocals

Awesome riffs and blisteringly fast solos from Ernie C (looking like a deranged Donald King), ably supported by Juan on rhythm flying V.  The back beat was delivered lightning quick from Ill Will attacking the drums and in your face bass lines from Vincent Price.  Ice-T was a magnificent sweary beast of a man all night full of passion and humility.  Plenty of social commentary “shut the fuck up bitch” to a lady annoying him at the front; racial equality has been his main aim since he started; the hopelessness of war and why can’t we all live together?  Oh and the odd gun reference 😊…

The ‘skull n gun hoody’ black stage set back drops pretty much explain all you need to know about Body Count and rap superstar Ice-T – thank fuck he went metal!!  Body Count still matters!

Marko [1 July 2024]

Ps – I’ve decided to have a new feature to my blogs called ‘Nick’s view from the bar’ – which involves my mate Nick’s take on the gig stood propping up the bar and drinking way too much 😊.  More to follow..