Concorde2, 18th April

On tour to promote forthcoming album ‘Headthrash’, Plump DJs have been at the forefront of the breaks scene since 1999. Tonight, the crowd had been hyped up with a selection of tunes courtesy of Adsorb and Plazadefunk, including a breaks remix of ‘Jump Around’ which provoked communal hopping and waving. ‘The Rollers’ by Napt and a remix of ‘Night’ by Benga & Coki also stood out before 2am came around and a stage-rush signalled the entrance of Plump DJs.

Playing a largely breaks set, they plowed through a feast of nu-skool tunes with build-ups and drops a-plenty. With his grin firmly in place, it was obvious that Andy Plump was having a whale of a time, often leaving the decks to bounce along the front of the stage and even reel in the crowd with an imaginary fishing rod. It was also good to see that Brighton local Krafty Kuts, on a rare weekend off, had come down to hang out and could often be seen onstage, enthusiastically flicking through Plump DJs’ CD collection. We managed to catch up with an impressed Krafty, who told us: “It’s been good to see the Plumps play, they’ve got some good music and I totally admire what they do. I want to get my music levels at that sort of height.”

In recent times it seems that a lot of breaks DJs have started to lean predominantly towards electro. Tonight, thankfully, Plump DJs stomped through a decidedly breaks set, the ‘Intergalactic Planetary’ remix prompting mass recognition. New single ‘Torque of the Devil’ and the ‘Osclownyzz’ (Blende remix) also stood out as tunes to track down.

In the last massive build-up of the evening and with the exhausted but appreciative crowd readying to go, the deck wound down, the lights came up and the Plump DJs, grinning and arms raised, took their leave. One last heavy tune would have been nice but, then again there were any number to choose from the preceding two hours.

Words by Chris Leggett
Photos by Rob Thomas