Katy B + Ms. Dynamite + P. Money @ Birmingham Academy, 20th October 2011
It’s an ever touching rite of passage tableau at these sort of gigs where the girls, giving it some serious fashion smolder, persuade their tallest mate to muster up the courage to successfully negotiate id interrogation and purchase a pint. Only to blow it all by gasping at the price and then asking for three straws.
With a sell-out crowd that’s 95% female, they’ve all adhered to the collective agenda of deception by doing as Mum says and brought a coat in case it rains. No! It’s in case she sees what her little darling is/isn’t almost wearing underneath! Meanwhile, attendant dads, reluctant boyfriends and perplexed Security can only stand back in bemusement: this is a girls’ night out. ‘Ya gonna make some Noyze?’ OMG, don’t they just.
Ms. Dynamite whips ‘em up with high-five gusto banter and left crowd/right crowd scream-along choruses none of which this review would even dare to know, though the kids seemed word perfect. Whilst word perfect might be stretching the integrity of her grammatical interpretation of the English language – her lyrical messaging abounds with positive themes of tolerance, self-esteem and substance avoidance. Which, apparently I gather, from a gaggle of Breezer-challenged ladies behind me is, ‘Like so cool. What with the riots and that?’
MC P. Money chain-sawed through a very brief set of punter-teasing Grime-rhyme, hump-pumping the Academy arena in to delirious submission.
And then all things go mental as the flame-haired R’n’B Dubstep diva Ms Katy B blazes her Scarlet O’Hara bouncing barnet to lunatic crowd adulation. The set kicks off and maintains an merciless medley of hedonous Ibiza frothy kitsch. The sub-bass Titanic rhythms being specifically engineered to re-arrange the punters DNA. No question that Ms. KB can work a crowd with frenetic energy and boundless enthusiasm engaging one and all with embracing sincerity. Many a happy young bunny went home tonight utterly enthralled by the sheer joy of a value for money collective sweaty screamathon.
Setlis (tech-desk copy): Tell Me, Broken Record, Movement, Louder, Easy Please Me, Power On Me, Witches Brew, Go Away, Disappear, Goodlife/Show Me Love, Hard To Get/Why You Always Here, Perfect Stranger, Cross Over, Katy On A Mission, Lights On.
Review – John Kennedy
Photos – Ian Dunn