Continuing a long list of fantastic hip hop artists arriving at our shores, I was lucky enough to score a ticket to one of  most respected and enduring artists ever to come out of the congested, grimy streets of London. It had been five long years, a number of Lp’s and a long list of accolades since he last graced our shores, and the street industry buzz coupled with the saturation of every local street press front cover, feature interview and hot list “things to do” meant that this was a night not to be missed.

I arrived, at the relatively early time of 9.45pm  thinking I’d be able to catch at least the last half hour of True Live, whom I have not seen in ages, and was dying to see how they sounded these days. But alas, I came much too late, to find they had finished up at the painfully early time of 9.30pm, leaving me to drown my sorrows the equally painful yet unnecessarily expensive beers.

What I did arrive on time for was the side project for 1200 techniques lead MC Nfamas, and his band Nfs, whose set list included a number of hip hop standards, ranging from Parliament, to Grandmaster flash. This included a Roots Manuva cover, of which brought the main attraction on stage for. Apparently these two have established some sort of bond, as the favour was returned when  RM came on stage.

By about 11.30pm Roots came on stage, and with his full backing band, launched into a charging rendition of join the dots  like a fish out of water flapping around stage with a neat 80’s afro and those perennial sunglasses. Like his hip hop luminaries, RM is an easily likeable and obviously extroverted personality, who expressed his love of our country,  women,  wine and cheese, constantly thought the night. He even got in on the local politics surrounding the destruction of Palace, urging the punters to “not let them knock it down’.

But politics aside, RM’s blend of  British hip hop (with his own twisted humor) and neo Reggae shone brightly on his most famous tracks, including Witness (which has possibly one of the funniest video clips ever made) , that made the crowd go mental and dreamy days which RM let the crowd sing the “na na na na’s” on. These were beautiful moments of glory during the set, but due to a less than adequate sound system, that crackled when the bass went to high, and a small, but aggressive townie element, that seemed to be inhabiting my general vicinity, made it increasingly impossible to enjoy myself. That’s not to say that RM wasn’t an excellent performer, far from it, I guess it’s just that sometimes the external factors are the things that influence your mood. So don’t worry RM, I still love you, you still have a place in my heart, and I will look forward to when you come to our shores in five years time.