D12 live at the Ambassador Theatre, Dublin

A five-strong ‘Dirty Dozen’ took to the stage at The Ambassador without their main man Eminem. Considering all their singles to date, including the latest, ‘How Come’, have featured his voice I’d wondered how they were going to play a whole set without him.
Predictably they took the easy way out and used him as a backing track to their own rhymes. Eminem got a better audience reaction than the MCs sweating it out on stage, giving the impression that the real star of the show had stayed at home.
After the first song Bizarre (fat guy with ubiquitous shower-cap, for those not on first name terms) lead us in a rendition of ‘Kumbaya’ – there was more of this at 10 minute intervals throughout the gig, including the usual trick of playing to the natives, saying they love Dublin, because they get so drunk and have a great time “tearin’ up the clubs.” The familiar Dr Dre-inspired beats were nearly drowned out by a pumping bass and the anti-PC lyrics, which sparked inevitable controversy when read out on 2FM recently, were pretty inaudible. Perhaps next time they won’t forget the lead singer.

Photography by Cathal Dawson