It's nights like these that get me excited about live music. Call the Office built it, and they came. By the hundreds.
Read more after the jump!
As I rounded the corner of Clarence and York the sound hit me first. Dozens of chatting, arguing, whining and yelling concert goers snaked down York Street, in line to see London's prodigal son, Shad K. Each one of them sure they could talk, flirt, or threaten their way into the near capacity club.
I arrived minutes before Two Crown King took the stage. Their bio says they met while enrolled in Fanshawe's Music Industry Arts program. I wouldn't say these guys are entirely up my alley, but they were certainly entertaining. A formidable entity on stage; A combination of funk and hip hop (funk hop?) boasting 6 members, including a live drummer, keyboard player, guitar and bass in addition to the two lead men. The live drummer is definitely refreshing! (Who I might add is London's own, Pat Maloney, music programmer at Fanshawe) I'm down with the live dj + backing tracks, but these guys really can claim to being a "band".
Next up! Winnipeg's Grand Analog take the stage. A charismatic 3-piece, they managed to win over the audience with a mix of solid tracks, witty banter and maybe a few too many gimmicks. In between the spacey, delayed kazoo solos and cute girls being asked on stage to pour water on the lead man, Odario Williams, they spat out clear and thoughtful rhymes along to the fattest of bass lines.
Finally, after a short break which included much shoving to get back to the front, our main man Shad, was ready to start. Shad, clad in a Grooves Records t-shirt commanded the stage with just himself and a mic. He never needed the crutch of gimmicks or a big live band to keep the audience captivated. Dj TLO spun Shad's backing tracks plus some creations of his own. Familiar track after track, littered with London references kept the audience happy and proud, while the newer material garnered cheers and a heightened excitement for his new album, due to drop sometime this year on Black Box. As an encore, Shad invited Grand Analog back up on stage to close of the night with some freestyling. (I feel really white just typing that) I must say, Shad had the home turf advantage, reeling out references to most of the highschools in London only to win over the audience even more... if that's possible.
Overall, an amazing night. Great performances by all. Definitely worth the ticket price and we won't be seeing a show like that again for a long time. I think I can say, on behalf of all of London, come back soon, Old Prince.
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