Lethal Bizzle @ The Institute, Temple, 7th October 2014
With all the special guest appearances on TV and a line of clothing being made, it makes you wonder how Lethal Bizzle has got the time to put on a show, never mind a Dench one. But it wasn’t all about Dench tonight as a new salute is in the making. The “Rari Workout” which is the art of sitting in a Ferrari “swanning” your arm and jolting it up and down like a jack in the box. As for the rest of the night it was Snapchat galore. YaYa Toure/ Kolo Toure chants and the Harlem shake were also used to spice things up, or just another excuse to show off everyone’s hard work in the gym. You do wonder why we were in the Temple tonight and not in the Library, but it seems that Lethal Bizzle hasn’t gone commercial as well as some rap stars, cough Dizzee Rascal.
If you arrived at The Institute at 7pm, you would’ve had an hour or so of DJ Mystery. A man so peculiar he wears a fisherman’s hat to hid his true identity. The DJ set was more of filler than a DJ Tiesto slot. It sounded like DJ Mystery was just playing his personal gym playlist for when he’s doing the “Rari Workout.” Just when you were feeling as cool as ice, with the old school BBK mixes, Florence and the Machine and Sean Paul were added into the mix rounded off with some deep house anthems to wake people up.
With the tour being “The Dench Party” someone big in the Grime Scene must be backstage. If big as in height wise is what you want then Stormzy is just what the doctor ordered. From the back of the Temple you could see Stormzy with his florescent blue Adidas jacket, he is very tall. “0 to 100” provided a very mellow start to the ten minute slot, 0.46 seconds into the track “I swear it’s only been a minute” and it on to the next one. “Not that Deep” brought the vibe back but if you change “Not That Deep” with Skepta’s “That’s Not Me” you get a very generic sounding backdrop of an Orchestral instrumental and trap drums. So angry when rapping but so casual and talkative when off the mic, I didn’t know how to take Stormzy some of his mandem go to “Uni” and “Church on a Sunday” but some “Carry a Uzi.” However you need a lot of energy in Grime shows and for ten minutes the angry delivery of each tune produced bundles of it. He’s not on Vevo yet but Stormzy is on his way.
As Stormzy left the stage it was time for some more DJ Mystery who was slowly killing the vibe song by song. Nearly an hour later, one boy looked on the edge with his head in his hands, but things were about to change as “We Will Rock You” welcomed Lethal “Dench” Bizzle to the stage. The 30 year old hit the big time in 2004 so how has Lethal kept his loyal fan base? The opener “Not A Saint” answers this question.
It’s not just the commercialised dance music in the track but the invention of “Dench.” If you’re a new Lethal Bizzle fan then the word Dench is accustomed to nearly every new piece of material. “Dench” meaning cool or good is rhymed with “Park Bench.” Not once but twice in the ingenious song. “Leave It Yeah” was next originally featuring Lethal’s footballer cousin Emmanuel Frimpong. Today featuring Ozzie B,(co-founder of the More Fire Crew.) Lethal Bizzle has never shied away from being controversial, at the end of the track “Dappy” “Gayzer” and “Tulisia” were all told to “Leave It Yeah” by Lethal and the crowd.
Time for a 10 second rest then the “Harlem Shake” remix. Dropped on Radio 1 as a “Freestyle” Lethal packed a punch with bars like “I’m not Judy but I am Dench” which made way for the most pit, ordered by the Lethal Londoner. The lyrics may not be as lethal as they could be but the mosh pit gave the night an injection. “Oi” was for the old school fans and it didn’t matter what was being said in “Go Hard.” As it was sampled from the funk maestro James Brown’s “Funky Drummer”, you can’t help but groove. Now we needed to hear a story from Lethal about how he ran away from the Police in “Police On My Back.” “Dench” is so 5 years ago, I knew the set was missing something as it was time for the “Rari Workout.” A Fictitious tale, all too similar to “German Whip” made to boost Youtube views. As stupid as the lyrics in the song are, it didn’t matter because it was a Lethal Bizzle song, Lethal Bizzle could have rapped about his love for cheerios and the crowd would have been with him.
Apparently Birmingham was the best show so far (out of two shows altogether.) As Lethal went off stage the crowd erupted screaming him back. Before we could hear “Pow” I thought a snake charmer was coming on stage but it was the new single “Flutes” monster collaboration with blistering vocal riding over a haunting pan pipe and flute riff that bleeds into a thumping bass line.” Personally I think it sounded very naff but not as naff as the ending. “Pow” was nice so Lethal played it twice. But finishing on Bob Marley’s “Three Little Birds” was not the “Dench” ending I would have hoped for.
Photographs -John Dent
Words – John Kirby