11.30.07
It’s not for the cock, it’s for a tale of two cities.
Dizzee Rascal, Leeds Uni, 02/11/07
Joe Lean and The Jing Jang Jong, Dizzee Rascal, London Astoria, 09/11/07
Two gigs, two cities and only one week to separate them. The Astoria had much more going for it than the Leeds date. Not only was it the final night of Dizzee’s seven date UK Tour it was also his homecoming show in the birthplace of grime. However, as the party uni of the North, Leeds put up an honorable fight.
The Astoria show took an early lead with NME’s latest proteges (see: victims) Joe Lean and The Jing Jang Jong. With a crap name, vintage wardrobe and an annoyingly catchy but undistinguishable first single they are the kind of band real music fans instinctively hate, which is why their performance was an undeniably pleasant surprise. From the off the reasoning behind their name was made clear, Joe Lean is very much separate from the band he plays with. He made his entrance a song after the Jing Jang Jong, proudly beating a snare drum and announcing in a voice almost too deep for his tiny frame “I am Joe Lean and this is the Jing, Jang, Jong.” Throughout the set Joe Lean’s flamboyant and energetic performance style never came close to being upstaged by what is essentially his backing band.
Another thing that came clear during the set was that Joe had treated himself to something more than the few drinks your average indie star would enjoy before going on stage. His banter between songs ranged from almost non-sensical, sentimental ramblings to cock-sure statements about the future of Joe Lean and his Jing Jang Jong. Thankfully he pulled it off with the innocent charm of someone who has hit it a bit too hard rather coming off like just another arrogant frontman. Although on record Joe Lean and the Jing Jang Jong come across as your basic indie by numbers band the live experience is far from what you’d expect and justifies why this relatively unknown guitar band just about won over a room packed with people waiting to see their grime hero on what was only their 33rd live appearance.
When it comes to Dizzee, London and Leeds had one big difference; the audience. As you probably know Dizzee is celebrated by both the urban and indie scenes in the UK and in Leeds it was mainly the indie kids who had flocked out to pay their respects where as the Astoria housed a predominantly urban audience. It may shock readers to know that I, myself am not a connoisseur of hip hop and lie more happily under the indie lable. This is why I felt more comfortable at the Leeds show as it was a novelty for the majority of the audience, whereas in London any ‘joining in’ with people obviously taking it quite a bit more seriously than myself originally made me feel a tad ill at ease. However, after a few songs enthusiasm had spread throughout the audience and those feeling had all but vanished.
One reason Dizzee is so popular across all genres is because of his willingness and ability to incoporate different music styles into his own work. His appreciation of guitar music can be seen on his most recent album ‘Maths and English’ with his collaboration with Arctic Monkeys frontman Alex Turner. At both shows Dizzee celebrated this fusion of grime and indie not only by performing his part of the track but also rapping over well known classics such as ‘Seven Nation Army’ and ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’. At the Astoria Dizzee seemed far less sure about the idea warning the crowd that he was ‘gonna try something new’ but both shows the inclusion of these well known tracks sent the crowds wild and renewed the energy and enthusiasm of the audiences proving that, whatever your tastes, an anthem is an anthem.
As soon as the unexpected detour into indie was over Dizzee effortlessly pushed the show in the opposite direction by showing off his skills on the decks from when he was a jungle DJ and both the Leeds and London crowds just exploded all over again. It was after this that Dizzee started to show preference to his hometown as he brought out an incredible beatboxer (whose name escapes me) to show his skills to the audience. The skill of this performer was truly amazing, he was able to create a sound that would normally take the cooperation of several talent musicians just using a microphone and his voice. Using different sounds, tones and volumes he was able to recreate drum and bass tracks almost perfectly. After this Dizzee we were told that Dizzee’s album went gold this week and he is presented with a plaque with all three of his gold albums. As he thanked the cheering audience his friends crowded onto the sides of the stage and it’s clear that this show is the crowning moment of one of the rapper’s most successful years. Despite Leeds still being a great show all the stops were pulled out for the Astoria and despite it’s annoyingly tolerant attitude towards people breaking the smoking ban it always seemed to be one up.
Dizzee and Joe Lean and The Jing Jang Jong are currently on tour with Babyshambles.
Joe Lean and The Jing Jang Jong-Lucio Starts Fires (Removed)
Joe Lean and The Jing Jang Jong-Myspace
Dizzee Rascal-Fix Up, Look Sharp
Travis said,
November 30, 2007 at 7:26 pm
skank to the max on leeds! but i guess we only saw half a show…..to wacked out on heroin methinks! let me know about writing for the blog.
G Town said,
December 1, 2007 at 12:34 pm
Wish I could have seen him at least once, let alone twice!
I think this is a really good review, works well with both gigs in one review- dunno why you were chatting shit about it..