June, 2012
Catch up on all the action from Represent...
Stay tuned to facebook.com/converse.
Wednesday 15th August
Over nine nights the Represent stage has hosted many of the world’s best-loved bands. They came in all shapes and sizes, from Plan B’s full backing band to The Bots’ two man show but on the closing night Nas proved that sometimes all you need is one man and a mic to captivate a crowd.
The night went across the full spectrum of hip-hop, starting with the old school referencing Children Of The Night who matched up on point rhymes with infectious on-stage energy and started the show with a bang. Moving things across the pond Speech Debelle started her set with a lively rendition of ‘Studio Backpack Rap’ from 2012’s ‘Freedom of Speech’. With her signature delivery and tight live band it was easy to see why she won the Mercury prize a few years back.
Representing another side of the UK sound grime MC Kano bounced on stage to an uptempo rendition of 2005’s ‘Reload It’. The urban music landscape has changed massively since then but Kano amply proved he is still one of the best MCs the UK has to offer. The crowd agreed, with a surprising number of people knowing all the words to what seemed like the whole set. He pulled in long-time sparring partner Ghetto for the last couple of tracks who responded to the rising temperature by ripping his shirt off and dropping some of his trademark quick fire delivery.
You could feel the wave of excitement surge across the room as Nas took to the stage, backed up by DJ Green Lantern blasting out the opening notes of ‘The Don’ from this year’s ‘Life is Good’. He didn’t make the fans wait long before heading in to classic territory though with ‘It Ain’t Hard To Tell’, ‘N.Y State Of Mind’ and, of course, ‘Represent’ all making an appearance. Up on stage he looked in his element playing in this intimate setting, even noting on the mic that, “Careers start at clubs like this”. The whirlwind tour round his extensive catalogue finished with the poignant ‘Bye Baby’, written about his high profile divorce with Kelis. Another emotional moment in nine nights that have been packed full of them.
That’s the final show wrapped up, but don’t forget video highlights can be found for all shows at youtube.com/converse and stay tuned to facebook.com/converse
Tuesday 14th August
Like any good gig heavy metal tees were like badges of honour at last night’s show, of course most of them were for Overkill the 80s thrash legends who headlined. It’s fair to say the whole night was the loudest and most intense we’ve seen at Represent and that was exactly what the crowd wanted. Kicking things off early on newcomers Wet Nuns proved they were a force to be reckoned with in such hallowed company, in spite of a few technical issues they won the crowd over and got the mosh pit moving.
The Safety Fire switched things up a little sonically powering through high-octane versions of ‘Animal Kingdom’ and the epic ‘Huge Hammers’ amongst others. By this point the drinks were flowing, the temperature was rising and people were ready to go crazy for Leeds boys Pulled Apart By Horses. It was clear they had a lot of fans in the crowd who rushed to the front when they started. Playing tours with legends like Muse and Biffy Clyro has obviously helped them hone their performance and on-stage swagger and tracks like ‘V.E.N.O.M’, ‘Yeah Buddy’ and ‘High Five’ giving the headbangers in the front row exactly what they came for.
Then, a brief break for the gloriously-named DJ Skill Wizard showcasing metal from across genres and decades while Overkill’s army of technicians prepared the stage for the main event. The insanely fast guitar work of ‘Come and Get It’ heralded a rock and roll rollercoaster over the next hour with Overkill showing The 100 Club they still know who the blow away a crowd. After a loud, high intensity hour they closed with the spectacularly rowdy ‘F**k You’ and that was that.
Stay tuned to facebook.com/converse for updates.
Friday 10th August
In a landmark year for Jamaican culture around the world this edition of Represent was an explosion of the best the island has to offer past present and future. First act Manchester’s Janice Graham Band offered up a distinctly British take on reggae roots, pairing up Northern swagger and sharp lyrics with a carnival atmosphere.
That atmosphere stayed the whole way through the night, with the legendary Trojan Soundsystem filling the gaps between live acts. Leaders of the new school of UK soundystem culture The Heatwave lived up to their name, firing up the crowd with an impeccable selection of dancehall and reggae new and old. The set was littered with their own re-edits and of course the vocal stylings of MC Serocee, if you closed your eyes you could have been at Notting Hill Carnival a month early.
Up next and also connecting Jamaican and UK heritage Natty brought his unique soulful sound to a seriously appreciative audience. He expertly blended good time vibes with social commentary and held the crowd captive for the duration of his set, showcasing classic material from ‘Man Like I’ against newer work, all sounding fresh.
Toots opened with the massive ‘Pressure Drop’ barely even getting a chance to sing any of the words as the crowd took over in a mass chorus. The man himself was backed of course by the mighty Maytals, playing all the hits like they were just written yesterday and backed by two powerful female singers on vox.
The party atmosphere continued through a soulful take on ‘Reggae Got Soul’ and the feelgood throwback vibes of ‘Sweet and Dandy’. Looking sharp in shades and his now trademark waistcoast Toots proved beyond any doubt that he hasn’t lost any of his mojo, in spite of some of these songs being almost forty years old. Closer ‘Monkey Man’ capped an evening of pure positivity and celebration in the truest Jamaican fashion.
Stay tuned to facebook.com/converse for updates throughout the rest of the shows.
Thursday 9th August
There are always several directions a stage invasion can go, fortunately this one went very well indeed. First off, the crowd had been invited by none other than Santigold herself during her enormous breakthrough hit, ‘Creator’. A full on party ensued with what seemed like half the crowd busting their best moves on stage trying to keep up with Santi and her spectacular dancers. The rest of her set included other classics from 2008’s eponymous ‘Santigold’ like ‘L.E.S Artistes’ and great new ones like this year’s big hitter, ‘Disparate Youth’. There was also a selection of her best guest spots like the incendiary ‘Hold The Line’ by Major Lazer with it’s unmistakable beat and relentless energy.
It all started several hours earlier with Brooklynites Friends who tapped in to New York’s rich mix of quirky pop music, channeling the spirit of bands like Tom Tom Club to create a good time party sound with an edge. Citizens! were next up, offering a European take on a similar sound with tracks like ‘Reptile’ getting hips moving across the already packed club.
Best Coast have taken the world by storm with their new album and it was easy to see why. Their unique brand of pop music brought rays of California sunshine that the UK summer has been severely lacking with mass sing-alongs to ‘Boyfriend’ and ‘The Only Place’ and many smiling faces.
Django Django’s modern British psychedelia is a unique proposition and they showcased it to devastating effect at Represent. Marrying an ear for a strong hook with a driving rhythm section and a whole host of otherworldly synth effects they took The 100 Club by storm. They clearly relished the chance to play a small club in fact they said as much, telling that this show was a great chance to play a different environment after a summer of festivals. The show was also beamed out to thousands of fans on Converse TV.
That left only Santigold, her DJ and those dancers to rock the crowd until closing time, which, of course, they did.
Stay tuned to facebook.com/converse for updates.
Wednesday 8th August
After three nights of raucous guitars it was time for Represent to turn it’s attention to a different slice of the musical spectrum last night as the 100 Club embraced the pulsing electronic sounds of SBTRKT, John Talabot, Rudimental, Lemonade and Man Without Country. The dark and intimate surroundings of the club suited the music just fine with New Yorkers Lemonade starting proceedings with their wildly psychedelic yet melodic sound layering colourful washes of noise against Callan Clendenin’s vocals.
The first band streaming live on Converse TV were South Wales duo ‘Man Without Country’ whose sound filled the room with big synths and accomplished vocals that felt like they could have easily been at home on much larger festival stages.
Having played the 100 Club before at a previous Converse Gigs event John Talabot knew exactly what to expect and his live show, since honed on much larger stages like Sonar in Barcelona, was utterly captivating. Balancing atmosphere and raw emotion with dancefloor energy he had the crowd moving by the end of the first track and by the time big hitters from his debut ‘Fin’ came round like ‘Destiny’ all arms were aloft. It’s easy to see why the XX have chosen him as their main tour support this year.
Rudimental leaped in to the collective consciousness earlier this summer with ‘Feel The Love’, a gospel tinged slice of feel good drum and bass that featured vocalist John Newman. They didn’t disappoint, closing the set with an extended rendition featuring live vocals from the man himself. Before that they had worked through a selection of garage and bass heavy cuts adding a shade of the UK underground to proceedings.
SBTRKT also has the roots of his sound firmly in underground UK bass but over the course of an hour those roots flew in all directions on a kaleidoscopic whirlwind that took in house, techno, electro and more set against tribal live percussion and vocals from special guest Sampha.
The result is one of the most impressive, accomplished and downright danceable live sets out there today. A few hundred people in The 100 Club were lucky enough to see it first hand, and many thousand watched it live on Converse TV. If you didn’t manage to catch it watch the video footage above and then get out there this summer and see the man in action, you won’t regret it.
Stay tuned to facebook.com/converse for updates throughout the rest of the shows.
Tuesday 7th August
It isn’t often anyone wants a bottle of water poured on their head but those times may well include being at the front of a packed out Blur show at the 100 Club, with Damon Albarn doing the pouring. Since the opening strains of ‘Girls and Boys’ rung out round the room the energy had not let up and the club was very warm indeed. In between songs Damon, in fine playful form, took the chance to empty a few bottles of water on the crowd, and no one was complaining in the slightest. Being up close and within touching distance of a band set to play one of the biggest shows of their career next weekend was a dream come true for everyone, you could see it written on every single face from front to back.
Partly responsible for warming up the club were of course the earlier bands, starting with Manchester electro pop outfit Swiss Lips. They launched headlong in to their anthemic ‘Danz’ as the first track and the pace didn’t let up from there, a fine opening act for a stellar line up. Next up Savages opened things up sonically with a wide, expansive post-rock sound that was dark, dramatic and utterly compelling. The all female four piece well and truly affirmed their ‘one-to-watch’ status sounding completely contemporary but with all the right references to the past.
Also putting their own take on a classic sound were The Bots, the fresh faced teenage punks from LA. Like Japandroids the night before these guys proved that guitar, bass and attitude are all you need to rock a club, it’s easy to see why they’ve already been on several prestigious tours in the USA all before graduating high school. Their set was also streamed out live with fans tuning in from LA, Germany, Mexico and beyond.
Blur’s setlist was a real treat for long time fans with several tracks from the pre-‘Parklife’ classic LP ‘Modern Life is Rubbish’. The megaphone came out for ‘Oily Water’ and they powered through a rocking take on ‘Colin Zeal’. In fact all the tracks sounded absolutely in their element in this intimate setting, a timely reminder that twenty years ago Blur were playing exactly these kind of spaces. They even dug out some B Sides, like the excellent ‘Young and Lovely’ with accompanying wise cracks about how the years have gone by since they wrote it but the meaning still holds firm. The band closed proceedings with a beautiful rendition of ‘For Tomorrow’ followed by new ballad, ‘Under The Westway’, already earning it’s place in the canon of their classic works.
In true rock and roll style there was no encore, but there was a high intensity jam round the old piano teasing the crowd in to one final frenzy before the band disappeared in to the night.
That completes an amazing first week on Represent but stay tuned to facebook.com/converse because there is much, much more to come next week.
Monday 6th August
“Like pebbles on a beach…”, five words were enough to trigger a mass sing-along from the crowd at the 100 Club that echoed round the world to the thousands of people watching the show live online. The classic ‘Broken Stones’ closed a rollercoaster of a set from Paul Weller that took in new material and a host of classics from both The Jam and his solo career.
Rewind a few hours and Towns were first on stage showcasing their accomplished 90s referencing sound. They were followed by sister-act 2:54 whose atmospheric washes of guitar and breathy vocals comfortably reference bands gone by like Tears For Fears and newer acts like the XX.
Stripping things down still further, Canadian duo Japandroids fittingly brought a slice of raw garage rock to the 100 Club. Rocking the classic guitar and drums only setup Brian King and David Prowse hurtled through a selection of the best bits of 2009’s ‘Post Nothing’ and this year’s ‘Celebration Rock’. Their back to basics approach sounded great in the intimate surroundings of the 100 Club and set the scene nicely for what was to come.
Spiritualized arrived on stage in an unassuming manner but as soon as they picked up their instruments the atmosphere crackled with the kind of electricity that only they can bring. The band kept the crowd mesmerised for the full set closing with a hypnotic rendition of ‘Take Me To The Other Side’.
With the club full to bursting point and all eyes on the stage it’s fair to say anticipation was high. BBC’s Tom Ravenscroft kept up the pace with an excellent selection of records but everyone wanted one thing and the opening bars of 2010’s ‘Wake Up The Nation’ announced it. More new material from this year’s ‘Sonik Kicks’ proved that Weller is a man still at the very top of his game, but it wasn’t until mid-way through that the club’s legendary walls reverberated to a classic Jam track in the form of ‘Start’. The hits kept on coming, with the epic ‘Changing Man’ closing the show.
The whole band were in world beating form and you could tell the man himself was loving every minute. Like the UK Subs the night before, playing the 100 Club was like a return home for Weller and the whole show had an atmosphere of genuine celebration. A true British legend.
Stay tuned to facebook.com/converse for updates throughout the rest of the shows.
Thursday Aug 2nd
It was always going to be an emotional night for many, with such an incredible link up of punk rock in one of the genre’s spiritual homes, expectations were high for last night’s Represent show. Headlined by the legendary UK Subs the line up also paid tribute to punk from across the ages with a host of bands that drew out punks old and new from London to party at the 100 Club, even Captain Sensible from the Damned was in the crowd.
Warming up the crowd was DJ Liam Penetrator who played all night between the bands and joined the dots between sets with an unbeatable collection of vintage punk 7” vinyl. With six bands on the bill it was an early start and Dumbjaw took to the stage at six o’clock firing through a short but vey sweet set of snarling punk. They were followed by ex Ten Pole Tudor man and sometime Crystal Maze presenter Ed Tudor Pole who drew out the old school heads and got the crowd in the mood with repeated calls for the spirit of real punk to show itself.
By the time Goldblade took to the stage at least half the crowd were wearing the ltd. edition UK Subs tees. The band have a fearsome live reputation and frontman John Robb gave it 110% to prove they still have every bit of energy that they had when the band formed in 1995. By the end of the set he was shirtless and very sweaty indeed, as were many of the crowd.
Following swiftly on, Discharge showed the 100 Club why they’re known as some of the UK originators of the hardcore punk sound with a high intensity run through of their catalogue from 1977 until the present day.
The packed club were clearly anticipating the headliners so Anti Nowhere League had to really give it some to hold their attention. Fortunately that is what they do with lead singer Animal barking and growling through the set on top of some serious riffs from guitarist Magoo. In true punk style crowd participation was now well and truly underway, something that would carry on well in to the UK Subs set.
Being back where it all began was a special moment for a lot of the crowd and you could see that the UK Subs were loving it. Close your eyes and you could have been back in the 70s experiencing the raw energy of this sound for the first time. Playing live is where the ‘Subs are in their element and after all these years they’ve well and truly still got it, lead singer Charlie Harper is still a formidable presence on stage. Tracks like the classic ‘Stranglehold’ still sound fresh and the crowd lapped it up, sharing the mic with Charlie, stage diving, jumping, pushing, shouting and doing all the things that make a real punk show one of the best musical experiences you can have.
Another great night at Represent, keep an eye on facebook.com/converse for all the info as the shows progress.
Wednesday August 1st
After months of anticipation Converse Represent started in style last night with amazing performances from Plan B, L.Marshall, Jacob Banks and Yuna. The queue was already snaking round Oxford St in the middle of the afternoon as the crowd eagerly awaited the start of the show.
First on stage Jacob Banks showcased his unique British soul sound, charming the crowd with his voice and his on stage banter. Tracks like ‘Welcome To The Jungle’ were announced by informing the crowd that, “This one’s about leaving University and entering the real world”.
Next up the only international performer of the night, Yuna wowed the crowd with her delicate vocals and stripped back electronic production. This was her first major show on these shores but we have a feeling the UK will be seeing a lot more of her soon. Yuna’s set was also the first to go out by live stream (ustream.tv/conversetv) to the world with an international crowd from her native Malaysia and far beyond tuning in.
At this point the anticipation for Plan B was really building but one more artist was left to go in the shape of newcomer L.Marshall. Known for his behind the scenes writing work for Wretch 32 and Loick Essien 2012 is already looking like his year with high profile support slots for several artists including a certain Ben Drew. On stage Marshall is a ball of energy and showed off his glittering pop credentials with style and swagger, big hitters like recent single ‘The Wait’ sounded great in the intimate surroundings.
The crowd were eagerly waiting for Plan B but what they got was beatboxer Faith SFX, nobody minded as he wowed everyone with his vocal dexterity, ranging from his own take on dubstep through to current chart hits all done with voice only. Then, the time had come, with Plan B and his band storming on stage to a high tempo rendition of ‘The Writing’s On The Wall’. The crowd erupted and didn’t stop until the lights came up. The set ranged from hard hitting new tracks like ‘Ill Manors’ through to covers including a beatbox-lead take on ‘Stand by Me’. Once again the set was streamed live out to the world with thousands of fans enjoying the show from the comfort of an armchair.
A great start but Represent has only just begun, stay tuned to facebook.com/converse for updates and ustream.tv/conversetv for live streaming.
