SECC, Glasgow
Wednesday November 2nd 2011
Support acts were irrelevant on this night. I have no idea what J Cole even sounds like, and the SECC had that irritating yet understandable no drinks in the hall policy, so I sat at the bar. The gig was a freebie after all, and I was only really interested in the current king of British hip-hop, Patrick Chukwuemeka Okogwu, aka Tinie Tempah.
As the lights went down the mostly teenage crowd (with a few old bastards like myself sprinkled in) went absolutely mental, and by the time Tinie arrived onstage by popping up through the floor Rey Mysterio style, the place had gone cataclysmic! Opening up with "Simply Unstoppable" with some sort of crazy backpack on, he had the crowd eating out of his hands from the very start. Playing a mixture of his tracks from debut album "Disc-Overy" and his collaborations with other artists, it's obvious how talented Tinie actually is. By the time he had reached the midpoint in his set with "Written in the Stars", although there was a tape of the chorus playing, it need not have been there, as the sold out crowd handled the vocals admirably.
The middle part of the set saw the band stripped down and playing acoustically, "Love Suicide" from the US version of his album, and allowing the band to take the lead on a cover of Ed Sheeran's "The A Team". A nice touch for a hip-hop gig that went down well with this one at the very least.
After that, the hits kept coming, and "Miami 2 Ibiza" just about tore the roof off the building. Tinie closed with the song that made him, the excellent "Pass Out", and sent the crowd home in raptures.
From this gig, it's clear to see just how good an artist Tinie Tempah is. Bridging genres effortlessly, and making a mockery of those who want to hem him in. There's a reason why Tinie Tempah is as popular as he is. And it's because he's absolutely brilliant.
****
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