If you hear someone say ‘Yeah I like a bit of dubstep’ it’s often followed by the words ‘Rusko’ and ‘Sick’. Dubheads however, will most likely tell you that they don’t expect him to smash out anything remarkable soon and that his baselines are all the same; an insult to anyone in the dubstep scene, let alone with a reputation such as his own.
After a strange and rather disturbing work up set from the support bands (a couple of American female rappers and an occasional ‘womp’) it coined the atmosphere perfectly when someone shouted accidentally into the sudden silence ‘…Oh, that’s quite good they’re moving the table forward and putting the lights up on him…and he’s got a guitar”! Not the best intro to tonight’s live set.
Rusko Live consisted of the man himself with a laptop and a bass guitar, simple, averagely skilled but highly entertaining. The general distaste for many mainstream artists coming from underground, appears to spring from the fact that Rusko is partly famous for making dubstep mainstream. Why is it a crime when music becomes mainstream? It gives people who would otherwise not be exposed to the music a catalyst for curiosity.
Judging from the human tide crashing towards the stage every 20 seconds tonight once he had control of the stage, I reckon Rusko might have welcomed a few more fans to the genre this night.
Words: Kate Elliott
