Still recovering from an advanced case of procrastination that prevented me from obtaining Good Vibrations tickets in time, the opportunity to see some of its standout performers in an intimate setting was adequate compensation. Arriving at The Forum in Fox Studios – which I quickly discovered was the re-badged City Live – our first task was to wade through the washed up debris of Good Vibes punters, who were by this time staggering around aimlessly and munching on their gums. Ok, so I was just a little envious.

In the early stages the venue was lacklustre, with the dancefloor virtually unoccupied and the mezzanine levels sparsely populated. This all changed in a matter of seconds. JS-1, DJ of the Rocksteady crew, who had been gently warming up the crowd, suddenly grabbed his mic and yelled “alright, so who’s ready for Rahzel?” The venue’s numbers swelled dramatically, and the dancefloor in front of the stage was at once five punters deep.

Wasting no time, the imposing Rahzel strode onto the stage, looking casually pimped out in a diamond-studded cross on a chain, a large Rolex and a stark white peaked cap. He warmed up the crowd with a couple of his well-known solo tracks, including ‘All I Know’, before embarking on a series of interludes with DJ JS-1, who had exhibited some fine beat juggling skills only moments earlier.

These moments between MC and DJ allowed Rahzel to flex his beat boxing muscle, and demonstrate why he’s not exaggerating when he refers to himself as the ‘undisputed beat box champion of the world.’ Essentially, JS-1 would stick on a track in a given musical style, ie; R&B or reggae, play the first verse and then stop. Rahzel would then imitate with military-like precision.

Not only was he startlingly accurate in the way he imitated sounds, including both male and female vocal ranges, but he did them all simultaneously. Drum beat, bassline, melody and voice, all perfect, and all at once. The skill with which Rahzel is able to separate sounds and duplicate several at once is a technique that is reminiscent of ventriloquism.

Rahzel continued to display his wide-ranging vocal talent, delivering a perfect rendition of a well-known Ray Charles track ‘I Got A Woman’ before his performance culminated in the song that propelled him to stardom, ‘If Your Mother Only Knew’. In the closing moments of his performance, Rahzel announced that he had a guest waiting in the wings. It was no other than Charlie 2na of Jurassic 5 – one of my favourite MCs of all time – I was ecstatic. The two performed a track of freestyle with impeccable timing, and impressive fluidity.

After a short break, Mix Master Mike took to the decks. In the shadows of an impressive act, and without the distractions of the three Beastie Boys MCs, it was sink or swim. His first few tracks appeared to hit the mark, impressing the crowd who had not budged from the front of the dance floor in hours. The range of tracks he dropped was interesting, with hip hop favourites including the Beat Nuts’ ‘Watch Out Know’ and Gang Starr’s seminal ‘Do You Wanna Mess With This’, neatly juxtaposed against rock classics such as Nirvana’s ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ and Rage Against the Machine’s ‘Killing in the Name’.

While the diversity was impressive, and the pace appropriate – he started with longer mixes, gradually playing fewer verses of each track until he was dropping in a record a minute – it wasn’t exactly a display of originality. In fact, I have seen several DJs experiment with timing and diversity in almost exactly the same fashion – Fatboy Slim being a notable proponent of this style. The Mix Master was endowed with a microphone, but unfortunately he seemed a little tuckered out from Good Vibes to make effective use of it. Overall his set was technically correct, but not amazing and fun to listen to, but not ground breaking.

But to be fair, he had had a big day, and Rahzel was a hard act to follow.