RONI SIZE from mtv.com
Writing up club nights for the wonderful, magical and mystical shefbase.com is obscenely difficult: Without the structured sequence of a gig and with intoxicants, everything becomes a little hazy.
Secondly, the rich verbose tapestry of adjectives that normally fills reviews needn’t apply. If it’s good, it’s good. If it’s hard and fast, it’s exactly that. The following review may consequently be an incomprehensible string of words which completely fail to review Reprazent, Skream and other cronies at The Plug last Friday, but hopefully it’s as close to useful as possible.
Getting into the venue, the vibe was cool, with the vigorous but accepting everyman’s vibe that accompanies DnB and dubstep nights in Sheffield. I often think Plug’s an under-rated venue for nights like this. Sure it’s a little soul-less, but it’s difficult to give a giant box the character of other clubs without pretty abysmal décor and/or a fine smattering of piss and vomit (If either are your bag, both can be found in other Sheffield venues).
As it stands, I’m quite happy in there, since the sound’s good, the lights are cool and without 70s disco trashiness, and the drinks aren’t unreasonable when you remember that this isn’t the Union.
After a solid warm-up set, Reprazent took to the stage, helmed by Roni Size and energetically fronted by Dynamite MC and Onallee. There’s really very little to compare to a live drum n bass set done well, and Reprazent do it well. Live double bass gave proceedings a smooth, jazzy vibe.
Reprazent’s set incorporated a whole range of material in semi-chronological order from the very early days right up to the present, throwing in a fair few classics and some surprises too.
One of the sweatiest blokes I’ve ever seen was particularly excited: “Mate! I first saw this tune onstage fifteen years ago! In Bristol! Yeah!”, proving that Roni Size and crew (cru? I worry I’m not street any more) have a loyal and long-lasting following. Rightly so, considering the superb blending of ragga, soul, breaks, jazz and funk which coalesces into their sound. Some might disagree, but I thought there was a pronounced and cool soul flavour to the set, possibly due to Onallee’s performance.
DJ Lynx followed up, with a banging tour through modern DnB anthems, proving himself as one to watch. I think Reprazent’s Krush may have taken to the decks for a while afterwards, but it’s difficult to be sure. Whoever it was, they knew the craic, keeping some particularly excited gurners on their toes for hours.
Around this point, I realised that in the process of creating my drum n bass sphere of terror, I’d completely forgotten about Skream.
The dubstep room was a wicked tonic to the frenetic DnB main area. I hadn’t been convinced by the genre up to this point, but in a tiny, dimly-lit room at 3am, it suddenly made perfect sense.
Cool psychedelic parps, clangs and general sub-sonic tomfoolery, over appropriately heavy bass with a beat that always treads the line of dropping is actually pretty good. And you know you’re onto something when most of the DJ’s mic action consists of apologising to the crowd because he can’t pump out as much bass as he wants. It might’ve been Skream that eased the end of the night or it might not, but the dubstep room was a great complement to it’s larger neighbour. Thus was a cynic converted.
All in all, a good night. A very good night. Good venue, cool people, and great music. With any luck I’ll be back at Detonate next month.
By Adam Dobson
FOUR STARS, JAH?
