Coupling the lyrics to the theme tune, human beatbox style, to the popular Seventies comedy, The Brady Bunch (“Here’s the story, of a lovely lady…”) with one of your most successful singles(“…..and her name is Bonita Applebum”) takes a particular skill. It is easy for this twin assault of nostalgia to fall into cliche and in lesser hands could seem like a too obvious way of hooking your audience in. But as Q Tip showed on Saturday he has skills aplenty. His a cappella versing of his former band, A Tribe Called Quest’s, track Bonita Applebum with The Brady Bunch theme (harking back to more innocent times in hip hop when the likes of Inspector Gadget and Pac Man would form the genre’s nucleus of samples) sent the crowd into absolute delirium. As did the Tribe’s double header of Award Tour and Electric Relaxtion, both pumped up to ten, with a heavy bass, drums and little riffs from renowned jazz pianist Robert Glasper. Along with Tip’s energetic stage choreography, part James Brown, part Prince and part old school hip hop posturing, this was a far cry from the subtle j azz leanings of his recorded work. The sound system was big and loud, so whirlwind of tunes, kaleidoscope of sound, energy an d dance was at times so overwhelming it was to hard to take it all in.
But the crowd took a collective breath and ventured further into a brilliant, upbeat performance, Q Tip having now matured into a competent performer (his previous performance fourteen years ago was more a traditional hip hop performance). Respite was found with Sucka Niggas, with Robert Glasper providing the ever so sweet jazz ’sample’, here beautifully recreated on the organ. The philosophical lyrics still resonate strongly and I am sure The Roundhouse, having previously hosted the cream of British rock such as Led Zeppelin, has not heard a lyric like “inhale……my style is kinda fat, reminiscent of a whale.” The Midnight Marauders album provided another highlight, its much loved Electric Relaxation track not showing its 15 years of age; the hazy, engaging bassline still sounding fresh to the asse mbled mass. An assembled mass who had suitably lost it by now.
By no means was this a greatest hits show. The current LP Renaissance, one of the best albums of the decade, stood the live test. Shaka and Move were brilliant openings. Actually even ‘brilliant’ is not a strong enough adjective to describe how memorable and hypnotic the opening tracks were – Q Tip, arms raised, ‘conducting’ his band; Robert Glasper on the keys proving why jazz will always be the most divine music;
and an earthy mix of bass and drums which reached deep into the soul. Shaka and Move were the culmination of a fourteen year absence from London, record company politics (Q Tip’s previous material was not released for not being ‘Black enough’ ) and the phoenix rising from the ashes. The Renaissance has begun.
Words: Sanjiv Ahluwalia
See more photos from the gig and after-party here.
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