The Fun Lovin’ Criminals stole the show on Friday at Bingley Music Live with their unique blend of wise guy gangster rap attitude, funk and soulful blues.
Huey and co. are stunning live musicians, which their fans from the 90s might have forgotten in a cloud of weed smoke and a few Scooby Snacks – but all questions quickly evaporated and the audience were captivated.
The New Yorkers tore into their catalogue of hits including Bodega and Friday Night. Supermodels On My D*** was delivered with a winning smile and won the first sing along.
Huey turned up the badass dial three notches declaring: “I’m a use the mosh pit to my mother****ing advantage on this one.”
King Of New York was a real treat and perfectly sums up their influences… ‘Lodi Dodi, Free John Gotti, The King of New York man, The King Of New York.’ paying tribute to the legendary gangster and Slick Rick.
Huey had the crowd in stitches with his banter on the mic and described Up On The Hill as a piece of “Puerto Rican Buddhism.” ‘Shit is timeless’ indeed.
Zen master Huey rounded up his crew with a little freestyle and then finished with
Scooby Snacks and Barry White.
Other stand out acts of the weekend were Wretch 32, Eliza Doolittle and White Denim. The diverse lineup proved to be a winner, even putting psych rockers The Coral on before Dubstep dons Chase and Status.
The Coral pleased the crowd with a range of their best known old and new tunes including 1000 years, She’s Coming Around, Dreaming Of You and even the surreal delight of Simon Diamond.
But the Wirral group are a bemusing band to watch live – they are amazing musically, with an edge on their album sound, but look disengaged from their audience throughout.
Frontman James Skelly looked at his feet and asked the audience: “Do ya like the Beatles?” and seemed surprised by the muted audience reaction confiding to his bandmate, “Guess not as much as I do” before ripping into a great rendition of Ticket To Ride.
The Coral could enjoy a wider fanbase if they reached out to their audience as the set went down a storm and they finished with North Parade.
But there was no doubt who the gathered throng had come to watch as the first bass lines of
Chase & Status bombasted the evening air and fading sunshine.
The dark African jungalist rhythms of No Problem perfectly start the show and get the diverse crowd of old and young ravers jumping in the air.
Their stage set up is a winning strategy. The drummer takes centre stage with monsieurs Chase and Status on either side orchestrating the audio assaults, MC Andy Gangadeen in the middle and strident visuals in the background bringing the vocalists from No More Idols to life.
Let You Go, feat Mali is a deep groove with raw emotion which resonated powerfully with the crowd and had even the most timid fan busting their best Dubstep dance moves.
Hypest Hype feat Tempa T was also a fierce highlight before they brought on rising star Liam Bailey to perform his lyrics for Blind Faith live.
At this moment in time and space Chase and Status hold the power.
Photo gallery by Andy Benge Photography.
Words by Andy Johnson and Amber Tan