Chase & Status @ Birmingham Academy, 6th October 2011
Chase & Status really come into their element live as the common repetitive beats Saul Milton and Will Kennard produce on their album are somewhat unsatisfactory for personal listening. The two nerdy looking characters strayed away from the limelight and hid behind their decks and keyboards as MC Rage couldn’t believe it and continually screamed it’s “f****** Chase And Status.”
As the group pretended to play the heavy beats in the background special guests Tempa T, Delilah and Liam Bailey joined the crew and brought the O2 Academy to life. The crowd were just a ball of sweat ridden madness; highlights include Tempa T taking to the stage and Liam Bailey singing “Blind Faith” in a “put your lighters in the air” moment.
Chase and Status will never be short of a support act as every song has a “featuring” in it. So who do they choose, no other than Delilah, who was keen to promote her new single “Go.” Delilah was great but I couldn’t watch her for longer than her half an hour support slot. (I’m still going to be downloading the single tonight however.)
MC Rage acted as the groups cheerleader as the London based producers hid away performing their variety of raga, jungle, dubstep and techno beats. A few of the big names from the album “No More Idols” were there but Dizzy Rascal, Tine Tempah and Plan B were not. Tempa T didn’t seem to care though and when he stepped out on stage to perform “Hypest Hype”, he was just a ball of rage ‎”If guy step on my crepz I’m bottlin’ man, I’m on a next hype”.
The songs that received the best receptions were “Lose Yourself” and “Time”, everyone knew the whole set anyway. It seems MC Rage is a charismatic character and a huge part of the live act but he wasn’t really doing anything anyway. I suppose without him it would just be a withdrawn band playing away to huge techno beat but he must be getting a hefty cut of the payment. The audience needed the MC to show them what to do but he was limited as there’s only so many moves a cheerleader can make.
Chase and Status deserve to be crowned kings of the Dubstep world as at this moment in time not even Pendulum or Sub Zero are making songs with the renowned names that the group are producing songs with. “End Credits” “No Problem” and “Fire In Your Eyes” were awesome and provided a euphoric atmosphere for those in the building. Great band and an all-round great gig, Chase and Status will be welcomed wherever they go on their extra-long tour.
Review – John Kirby
Photos – Katja Ogrin
Who the f*** is ‘Sub Zero’ Haha, you can’t call Chase and Status kings of dubstep and then compare them to ‘Sub Focus’ (To which I assume you are referring) who is a Drum and Bass DJ . They are sick though.