Dizzee Rascal has just left the stage and the feeling of disgust is palpable. People came to the Village tonight to see UK garage’s boy wonder tear up the microphone and make jaws drop, but they left feeling cheated at best.
It could all have been so different. Dizzee burst on stage and began rapping over a medley of modern hip-hop classics, and for 15 minutes it seemed this would be the gig of the year, with half of the audience jumping and the other half transfixed by the speed at which Dizzee’s mouth was moving.
The awe quickly turned to confusion however, as the hip-hop backing tracks continued and Dizzee barely strung two sentences together for the rest of the night. Fans even had to endure a dancing contest onstage between three female members of the crowd. If Dizzee had been half as desperate for the crowd’s attention as these dancers were, then the gig would have been a revelation.
Inherited “wisdom” has it that live hip-hop is a shambles, but there’s no reason why this should be the case with an artist who is so dynamic on record. Dizzee Rascal has the rhymes and the skill; tonight what was lacking was the will.