Friday night in photos: By Ian Byford

The homie Ian Byford just dropped these in the comments section. Check them all out, including Akira's set HERE.

Friday night...

So before I start I should say this, we had Pixel's super-flashy, expensive camera on Friday night, I took some shots, then Ben took some shots, then Tiago took some shots. Then of course Pixel left the last of the true ravers and while he has the camera I now realise that I have his camera charger. If he wants it back he knows what he has to do. These two [yeah I only have two] photos are taken on my phone and thus don't do much justice to my awesome photography skills.

So Friday was Marvin's first gig of 2009. It was Pixel's first gig in over 18 months. Which is crazy. Rather than ease themselves into it though, they decided to do a whole set of previously unheard numbers, not-a-one song in the set had ever been performed before. One of which [the finale and most awesome song by most accounts] has never been heard outside of the studio barring a couple of car journeys with man-dem. Shaking off a touch of rust Marvin and Pixel performed these songs in order...

1) Come On [Pixel]
2) Red Rum [Marvin]
3) The Forecast [Pixel]
4) Blaow Blaow [Marvin]
5) Bug Out [Pixel]
6) Sterling Crumble [Marvin]
7) Tin Can [Marvin]
8) Falling Down [Marvin & Pixel]

All of which [apart from 'Falling Down'] will feature on Marvin and Pixel's new mixtape coming early July to Devil In The Distance. What's 'Falling Down' for I hear you ask? *Taps nose*
After Marvin and Pixel's set, me and Ben Official hit the decks to pump out some classic hits, you may have heard the likes of 'Gamble On Me' by Cory Gunz and T-Pain, 'On The Rock' by Mavado and Jay-Z, 'Ghost Ride It' by Mister Fab, 'Tell Me When To Go' by E40 and Keak Da Sneak and a whole lot more. We then transitioned into Akira's set, which was the best I've seen him perform, without a doubt. His band was on some shit, brass section? Are you crazy! Genius. Morty was on point, so was Joey, shit was crazy. As the performance went on, the gangingest crew you ever did meet started to down ciders and unknown spirits [pictured above] and the night got fairly crunk. Video footage of what followed will be available soon. Suffice to say that Crusty Sleeve invented the Willy and used it to give Luke all the AIDS. At which point Luke proclaims to have borrowed the Willy and used it to transfer the AIDS on to Tiago, a motion that was then rejected. The video will of course decide.

LIVE NEWS: Me and Pixel added to 'Dawn Of The Don' line-up

Me and Pixel are going to be performing exclusive new material [none of the songs we're performing have ever been performed or heard outside of the studio, if you want classics you'll be at the wrong show. Strictly future classics] at Akira The Don's 'Dawn of the Don' gig on Friday May 29th. Most of the songs performed will make up the new mixtape which Jack is in the process of mixing as I type [real mixing rather than DJ Mixing, that process is a few weeks off at least].

We'll be joining Akira on the bill with Stephen Hague, Joey2Tits, Blonde Jeremy Deacon, Zombiehamster and Kill Witnesses who are all DJ'ing. You should buy advance tickets and look at the awesome flyer HERE.

@ The Gaff
382 Holloway Road, London, N7 6PN
020 7609 3063

Friday, May 29th 2009
7pm till late
£6 on the door, or £5 with a flyer (you can print the flyer from Akira's site)

I'll bring you more details as and when.

VIDEO: Live in Leicester [7/3/08]

I just came across this on Youtube. I think Example's doing Sumo again next month. This was a pretty cool gig. Also found on Youtube; 'Get By (Be Good)' and 'Superhero' uploaded to Universal's Youtube page, but by the looks of it, they've gone and ripped the clips from Youtube. Lord knows why?

Photo: Performing @ Plan-B

Woo! That was a good night. I need to do some more great nights in Brixton. They're the best. Shout outs to Ben, Perl Yoda and them.

LIVE@ Plan-B- October 3rd (supprting DJ Yoda)

Home again. It's going to be an alien reunion of sorts. Except...well except a lot of things. It's going to be a god damn party though! Talking about the recession the shit's depressing! I might rock with George Galloway but I aint no politician!... I don't rock with George Galloway. I wish I could have given the guy who threw a stress ball at him a high five or something similar in meaning though. That's funny stuff. But respect is due, he went to America and won...Where was I? Oh yeah. October 3rd, Plan-B, DJ Yoda and me!

Shuffled

Yeah we kept it Shuffly on Saturday night. It was a few people's birthdays so the party went on pretty late. I've never performed in a Kebab restaurant before. This was certainly a first.

Shoreditch Shuffle tomorrow!

I've mentioned this a few times before and so I thought I would mention it again. And again. And again. I am performing at The Shish Bar tomorrow for the Shoreditch Shuffle which promises some great live music, some great fashion, some great DJs, some great Burlesque, some great art, some great comedy and some great film. I think it's going to be pretty great.

The Shish Bar and Restaurant in particular will attain legend status for featuring not only myself, performing live, new hits, old hits and special crap! But also it will feature one Akira The Don! Who you may know. We've done some songs together and some gigs. Also performing at The Shish Bar and Restaurant will be Leo The Lion who we did a Karaoke event with a couple of months back.

Details and tickets and stuff can be found HERE.

Bridgwater on Saturday.

Read what the papers have to say about the event this weekend...

Bridgwater Mercury

Burnham and Highbridge Weekly News

I'm not sure how to communicate directly with the people of Bridgwater. But I'm looking forward to the gig so everybody should come down...or up.

GIG NEWS: Live @ DIY Labour Club (Bridgwater)- September 6th

You can read.

Shoreditch Shuffle

Click for details!

GIG NEWS: Live @ Madame JoJo's- October 15th

This is going to be a party of epic proportions. A load of celebrity DJs and such. It was originally scheduled for September 18th at The End but you know how that goes. It's an exclusive invite only function/affair but I'm definitely going to have some invites for Devil In The Distance scum bag regulars such as yourselves a little closer to the date.

Word. Back to the mixtape. Oh no wait. I have some articles I've been brewing up over the weekend. Then mixtape.

Nambucca last night

I had a good time. I've got a set coming together. I was a little rusty so the links weren't as tight as they should have been, but I liked the new little fun bits and we've got a few songs that we probably could have thrown in. 'Step 2 Skank' sounded goooood.

Nambucca tonight!

North of the river this time you smell me?

Live @ Nambucca next Thursday [10/7/08]

Oh yes! Free gig. Party atmosphere. Great times.

I must soundcheck at Plan-B. Where I am performing tonight of course. Tonight is going to be great.

Plan-B on Thursday

I'm going to tear the fucking place down on Thursday. Seriously, you don't know how ready I am for this gig. It's going to be legendary. I swear to you. I've been planning this in my head for like a month.

Next Thursday I'm at Nambucca at a free event. Email me for the list. That's a gig I'm doing for Poison Pen who directed and produced my first two videos.

Marvin- Superhero [Directed by David Aspinall] (on iTunes now)


Marvin- Get By (Be Good) [Directed by Paul Morricone] (on iTunes now)

Plan-B [Brixton] Live July 3rd

My home away from home. I'm going to tear Plan-B down on July 3rd YOU MUD? More details as they come in!

Public Enemy @ Brixton Academy last night

Last night I checked out Public Enemy at Brixton Academy. I can't claim to have ever been a proper P.E fan, I am entirely too young, but I am a scholar in many respects so I know my hip-hop history. Public Enemy performing 'It Takes a Nation of Millions To Hold Us Back' at Brixton Academy is an amazing thing to be happening. You see when Public Enemy first played Brixton Academy back in the 1980s they were supported by The Beastie Boys who were shocking the shit out of British press at the time with talk of penises and naughty things of that nature (these days they don't swear and make jazz fusion records...the British press win) and the gig absolutely went down in hip-hop history the crowd noise was actually used in the interludes during 'It Takes a Nation...'. We know a guy who was at that gig and he talks about it a lot.

So last night was the first time that Public Enemy would be performing 'It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back' from front to back anywhere in the world so Brixton is pretty excited (plus it's a Friday so Public Enemy fans can probably stay up past midnight or something similarly shocking). I live literally two minutes from the Academy because I'm Brixton like that. So of course I miss the first two support acts; Edan (who I probably would have been interested in seeing) and Anti-Pop Consortium (who I could live without forever I think), I got into the venue after being sent to two windows only to find out I had a V.I.P pass waiting for me at the stage door just in time to catch some guy in a fruity scarf freestyling badly over what appears to be a Canadian DJ in a wrestling mask (how do I know he's Canadian? I just do). After the tedious freestyle session is over Mr Fruity Scarf gets into a song I know. The guy on stage it turns out is hip-hop legend Kool Keith and he's now performing Dr Octagon songs, I'm pretty excited at this point, I'd written him off as a lame just minutes prior, he's not, he's Kool Keith and 'Blue Flowers' kicked the shit. The scarf is still fruity though. Keith throws some magazines into the crowd (I think) and exits stage left.

Next up we have a DJ performance from The Bomb Squad Hank and T Shocklee. The Bomb Squad of course produced the majority of P.E's classic material including 'It Takes a Nation...' so it's an honour to have them on stage. They start with a remix of T-Pain's 'I'm So Hood' and I'm pretty much the only person in the venue who knows what it is, not to worry as for the next hour or so there will be no more choruses, just hard industrial house music and dub-step (I think The Bomb Squad live over here now) "We be at the underground clubs with yall". They outstay there welcome to an extent, some people refuse to accept that the same song appears to have been playing for about 25 minutes out of respect and I respect that. T Shocklee dances around the stage for a few minutes before finally promising us Public Enemy and the Bomb Squad are done.

A giant Public Enemy banner is lowered down the back of the stage that excites glee in the packed arena (it was sold out well in advance). A terrible British accent asks the crowd if they're ready "Then I've got one thing to say to you....YEEEAAAAAHH BBOOOOYYYEEEEE" man that was as exciting as a man's voice can get. Flava Flav and Chuck-D take the stage with the S1Ws who look a little old but they get the job done. For the first time I consider that perhaps Flav looks younger than Chuck? It's possible. The fitness, energy and general rehearsedness of their show is unbelievable. They really don't stop. Professor Griff wasn't allowed out of America for the show and Chuck's pretty pissed. He says something about Minister Farakhan like this is 1994 or there were more than 2% black people in the audience. It's worth mentioning again at this point that I don't know P.E material like that so they're doing songs I've heard but I really don't know them, they're definitely doing them well though. I was disappointed that when doing 'Don't Believe The Hype' there was no effort to perform the horse noise. The hardcore fans wearing tight 'Fight The Power' hats weren't even making that great horse noise. Very poor. Chuck and Flav manage to look as enthusiastic about performing as I think I could possibly have imagined. They dedicate 'Terminator X' to Terminator X of course who retired in 1998 to run an Ostrich farm in North Carolina (does he still run an Ostrich farm?).

What was truly notable about the show was the amount of times I heard samples, lines and hooks that have been reused in contemporary rap records absolutely in reference to Public Enemy that I'd never picked up on before. I feel privileged to have seen the gig last night, Public Enemy are the best stadium rap performers I've ever seen live...they're probably the only stadium rap performers I've seen live but still, they rocked like Metalica who I saw at Leeds Festival a few years back or Iggy Pop who I saw at Reading the year after. That's a good thing.

Ghostface & Raekwon @ KoKo last night

First thing's first. I'm very happy and very privileged to have been able to see Ghostface and Raekwon performing 'Only Built 4 Cuban Linx' in London last night and I'm sure I'm not the only person who felt that way. But with Wu Tang it's never over until it's over so on the journey up I was absolutely resigned to the fact that not only was Ghostface not going to be there but that Raekwon probably wouldn't be there either. The fact that I got in with no fuss and didn't have to stand through poorly received support acts (people came for Wu Tang, unless you've got Method Man back there don't bother) made me more hopeful. When Raekwon came out I was more excited by the fact that J-Love was DJ'ing, don't ask me why, he's just one of the few DJ's I've followed in the last few years, god knows I don't follow Alan Matthewmatics. My initial fears appeared to be founded when Rae was tailed by a very nondescript weed carrier who may or may not have been in that awful group Ice Water. Rae jumped into a few '36 Chambers' classics including his verse from 'C.R.E.A.M' where he says he smoked crack, a line that Shyheim ended up making a whole diss song about not too long ago. One of my other fears about tonight was that Raekwon might want to try some 'Immobilarity' and 'Lexx Diamond' material. He did, although I shouted "No new shit!" I was drowned out by some people who I guess are bigger Wu Tang fans than me who seemed to know every word.

Rae's warm-up dragged a bit before he introduced Ghostface. Now let's get this straight, Ghostface could well be the greatest who ever did it, no gas, the guy has consistently released great albums (although that last one was a bit...) and has the charisma of Big Daddy Kane in his prime, he's tailed tonight by his own set of weed carriers, I recognise one of them, he's Shawn Wiggs from Theodore Unit, he's white, it's kinda obvious who he is, the other one? Not so much. Ghost runs through 'Fishscale' classics, 'Ironman' classics and a couple of numbers from 'Supreme Clientele' before starting his ritualistic controlling of the light man's evening "We want the red light. Just the red light. Turn off all these other shits" they didn't do the whole of the 'OB4CL' intro which was honestly a disappointment to me "You know we had the baddest motherfucking unit back in the days kid".

It's worth noting at this point that some of those instrumentals were really not designed to be performed live in such a big venue, in a few instances I found myself waiting for the first 4-8 bars of a song before I could actually pinpoint what the fluck it was and believe me I know 'OB4CL' inside out. On principal I refused to throw my "W" up, I might have been the only person in the venue who didn't but it's whatever. I saw one guy running around before the show eating a Fruesli Breakfast Bar, at a fucking Wu Tang show. Times have changed. I did shout ODB during the staple Rest In Peace section though. Half way through the album as if it was an old purple tape Ghostface ordered the lights up and invited 5 or so young rappers to the stage to do 40 seconds of rap and see how the crowd reacted, of course they were all pretty shocking but the guy who did win I would say was probably the best, if only for the fact that he sort of looked like Skinnyman. A pleasant surprise during this half time interval Ghost & Rae were joined on stage by De La Soul who were in London that night because they have a show the next night at The Forum, they got a good reaction but I kinda felt bad when Ghost said that everybody who's at tonight's show has to go to the De La Show, the response was sorta muted, to be fair though they'd just paid £18 which is like $400 or some shit, god knows how much one of De La's monthly London shows cost, we're in a credit crunch after all. Ghost and Rae pass on their condolences to Corrine Baily Rae after her husband died of a drug overdose, while I believe that Ghost is friends with Corrine (I've read that somewhere too) Raekwon's claim that "That's my homegirl. What's her name? Corrine? Correen? Yo that's my homegirl" seemed forced.

Back into the album and Ghost wants the blue lights, Raekwon is looking a bit tired at this point and starts missing lines in his own verses forcing Ghostface to up his overlay game to a ridiculous extent to compensate. Raekwon goes accapella on his verse from 'Rainy Days' (video above) before everything simmers a bit, to finish off the night J-Love throws on little parts of a bunch of random Wu Tang tracks, the majority of which were from 'Forever' which sucked. Ghost and Rae perform 'Triumph' for some reason and get down to U-God's verse before stopping, I think everybody in the venue was confused by that. We wanted to hear U-God damn it! While J-Love packs up his gear Raekwon throws that new turd burger that has been listed online as 'Necro' but is apparently called 'The G-Hide' and is produced by Necro, he tells us it's from 'OB4CL2' and it's proof that the album really is coming, Rae raps along to it for the first however many bars before getting as bored as the rest of us, Ghostface drinks Marks & Spencers Juice on stage and does not pretend to know his lyrics, which I appreciated.

If you're into 'Only Built 4 Cuban Linx' like I am then you should definitely try to catch the show when it passes by your town, hopefully Raekwon will have shaken off the rustiness a little bit and maybe J-Love will leave his fog horn sound affect at home. If so you're in for a great night.

BONUS VIDEO: That Shyheim record I was talking about. I wonder where Shy would be if he got on Jay-Z's first album like he was supposed to?

More photos from Norwich

All the photos above taken by David R Gray who is on the MySpace at MySpace.com/DavidRGray

Me and the Danielle crew.

Me and my boy Ell.