Subject: have you seen the horizon lately?
Date: Fri, 19 Jun 1998 08:57:43 PDT

hi all

well I'm gonna give you a rundown of yesterday and then head you back to 
Scotland later on - as this is more fresh in my mind.

well Thursday 18th June was darn busy !
woke after having the WORST sleep of my time here as in a dorm room of 
14 people 2 guys must've been sleeping on sandpaper. (well they were 
making some funny painful noises anyway).
Anyway I get up catch the bus to London at 9:30am - not much happens, 
the countryside is boring like New Zealand's boring parts !
Arrive in London at 7pm.

I check the De La Soul ticket and it says 7pm - well that'll be when the 
doors open so I'm planning to get there at 8pm. As things always happen 
a little bit later than stated.
I manage to get a bed at my old place which is good cos they still have 
my stuff locked up there for safekeeping ;-)


I finally hit the Jazz Cafe in Camden Town (in the opposite corner of 
the tube station) at 8:20pm, see a long line of people trying to get in 
so quickly go grab a bite for the day and hit a supermarket selling 
sandwiches for half price so I'm in like Flynn.

Go and eat outside the venue and stand right next to two of the band 
members (the large one and a thin one) - I am too shy to talk to them 
though. (Though they were pretty friendly as a lot of people went up to 
them after the show).
I cruise past the 10 or so people trying to get tickets - they are 
playing 4 nights tuesday-friday here, I bought my ticket 3 weeks ago, I 
tried to get Friday tickets then but they were already sold out.

The venue holds about 2 thousand. The support band on stage has 3 
turntables, a beatbox and a rapper and are ok.
At 9:15pm the De LA Soul dj comes on and plays a few new tunes from the 
US and warms us up and in 15 minutes the band comes on !

well what can I say !  

it was an awesomely great performance, very dynamic - a lotta movement. 
They played for 2 hours, pausing for 10 mins to let a local band do 
their thing - it was impromtpu as I was standing beside one of the 
rappers who was dressed to the nines so on stage kept complaining 
someone could've told him cos them he would've dressed more cooly.
They did about 9 songs in the first half and maybe 7 in the latter.
They did not play 'Doin Our Own Thang' [though of course this is not 
possible because.......] and did not play 'Say No Go'.
But they did play : eye know, a rollerskating jam named saturday, stakes 
is high, ponyride, me myself I, ring ring ring...........


From about the 3 song onwards the atmosphere was overwhelming, the smell 
of cigarettes and other things were in the air and everyone was getting 
into it, the band had a great presence really getting into the crowd. I 
was on the far right of the stage and they were so close (to slap palms 
etc) I could've spat and hit one. I managed to get some photo snaps. I 
hope the lighting was good enough. From the 3rd song onwards 'crowd 
participation' was the key and they got us all to join in and do various 
hand actions/movements ! 
At one point they decided to go 'funky' (and donned shades) so played 
some George Clinton etc and had about 4-5 [probably planned] false 
starts to get the crowd pumped up. Finally they got some of the audience 
on stage to lead us on and one again the track started..
but no ! one more false start -- there are some audience members not 
getting into it so we all have to point to them and embarrass them and 
clear the space around them them !!
Also the did a stint of 'old skool rap' (using older technology in the 
music etc) and this really got the crowd going.

Well they finished at 11:30pm after 2 hours but the dj/rapper stayed on 
for another hour to play tracks and keep the audience moving.

Basically all the songs segued into another or they gave them a GREAT 
GREAT GREAT 




buildup, especially the songs everyone knows which really got the crowd 
going wild. A lot of chat between songs as well.
Unfortunately there was no merchandise.

If tomorrow wasn't sold out I'd be tempted to go again.
ON an r'n'b note, I did expect a good concert with 3-4 people on stage, 
though I wonder how a single performer fares ?
We'll probably see when Coolio and guests hit town next month.

okay I head back to the hostel afterwards, I've just missed the fun as 
some guys were pissing in the hallway and there was a fire alarm !

I hit the sack and wake at 9am for breakfast. I muck around for 3 hours 
and finally head down here. I am rewriting my CV I'd better start 
looking into work soon. Tonight I'll watch a cheap movie then go the the 
BLUENOTE club where they play drum'n'bass and jazz etc then if I'm still 
alive I'll go back and watch the NZ vs England rugby test at 3:30am.

On Saturday when I arise I'll probably hit Camden Town to pick up 
something for a US friend stateside !

till the next missive !

darryl

Here is the setlist courtesy of New Music Express magazine :

Amphitheatre
Plug Intro
Oodles
Chanel #5
Ego Trip
Rollerskating Jam Called Saturday
Eye Know
Me Myself I
Dinnit
Buddy
I Am I Be
Better Listen
Truth Routine
Ill Love
Itsowezee
Let Me In
Jennifa
Pass Da Peas
Plug Tuning
Potholes...
Swinga Lokate
Stakes Is High
Bizness
Sunshine