Concorde2, 23rd May

Coming to light in 1983 with debut ’3 Feet High & Rising’, De La Soul have had plenty of time to perfect their live performance.

With Mase manning the decks while Dave and Pos bouncing around the stage, De La Soul flowed through ‘The Bizness’, a fairly chilled track on record that sounded heavy played over the Concorde2 sound system, which brought all of the older material to life. With the crowd’s full attention, Pos and Dave took a side of the venue each and, though the medium of cheering, tried to work out who was more ‘Hip-Hop’. This was one of several moments of audience banter, hyping the party atmosphere and furthering the group’s notion that it’s an enthusiastic crowd who make the gig.

A lively version of ‘The Grind Date’ and Mase joining the others at the front of the stage during ‘Oooh’ received massive receptions. The highlight of crowd interaction had to be the quick call and response to an ‘Ahh!!’ shout that slowed to the long, drawn-out screams which form the intro to ‘Ego Trippin (Pt 2)’. This got two deserved rewinds and drove the crowd nuts when the tune dropped properly on the third time round.

Classics ‘A Roller Skating Jam…’, ‘Me, Myself & I’ and a James Brown tribute version of ‘Stakes is High’ all followed in quick succession before the trio disappeared off stage. De La Soul finally returned for a four-tune encore culminating in them wanting “10-15 females on stage” and a wicked spin through a crowd pleasing ‘Ring Ring…’ With the departing words “You’ve been the best so far, better than London and Manchester” and the venue atmosphere, it seemed that it wasn’t just the crowd who had a brilliant time.

Although never again reaching the heights of their breakthrough album twenty-five years ago, De La Soul can still write the occasional good tune and, as proven tonight, can always throw an awesome party.

Words by Chris Leggett
Photos by David Tatnell