Brixton Academy

So often you hear of bands and acts doing something a little extra at the London dates, and to be honest the news of Lavelle pulling together a few friends for this show without doubt give the extra encouragement to take the trip up to the big smoke for what could quite easily be the best gig of the year. I’m sure I wasn’t the only one that had their arm twisted by the news of Ian Brown, Badly Drawn Boy and Duke Spirit’s Lelia Moss gracing us with their presence for the evening.

Tonight’s show was advertised as a showcase of all things UNKLE spanning across the three albums put out by Lavelle and Co. To be honest sometimes gigs like this play a little like a greatest hits list with the expected fillers thrown in, but tonight was none stop beats, bass lines, heavy riffs and pure dirt cleansed by some absolute musical perfections. I’d like to say I was exaggerating this but to be honest this set is well on par with some amazing Massive Attack shows gone by if not better.

It didn’t come as much of a shock to hear King Monkey receive the biggest cheer of the evening but all were welcomed with similar response from the lucky Brixton crew in-cased between the trembling walls of the academy. IB graced the academy quite early on with a thunderous version of “Reign” only to return later on to help out on “Be There”. Clearly a man at the top of game and his presence alone spoke volumes. Leila Moss and “Mayday” added some beautifully timed spine tingling moments also, but Badly Drawn Boy was equally as refreshing with his contribution on “Nursery Rhyme”, all I think, done more than just earn their drinks for the evening.

Lavelle himself centre stage hidden amongst the heartbeat of Unkle’s performance with an amazing backdrop of imagery that set the tone for this show to perfection. Lavelle had created a night to remember and seeing all guests back on stage to bid farewell done nothing but reinforce an energetic, fantastically arranged 2hours of some of the finest sounds around.

by Neil