Chase and Status, Manchester Apollo review

Posted on 23 October 2011
By Amber Tan
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Chase and Status returned to their old Manchester University stomping grounds with a triumphant sell-out ‘homecoming’ show at the Manchester Apollo.

The amazing acoustics of the grand old theatre added new depth to the No More Idols anthems and in ‘The Gods’ watching the show was like witnessing some futuristic Dubstep opera.

The Dubstep Dons have captured a moment in time, which has been building momentum since the early 90s, as Drum & Bass, Jungle and Garage take centre stage in their new guise of Dubstep.

Both Will and Saul are hardened drum and bass heads, spending their younger days soaking up vibes at BM Soho, formerly Black Market Records in London.

The 18-year cycles in music and culture that Purple Revolver use for futurising are taking the best pioneering elements from 1993 – 1994 to create an exciting new music movement.

Visuals are a massive part of their aesthetic, in an all-out assault on the senses, with a powerful green lazer show scorching the roof of the Apollo and many Illuminati pyramids being projected.

The giant screen also enables them to bring every vocalist from No More Idols to life, without actually being there, which was done to great effect with Cee Lo on Brixton Briefcase.

The first sing-along came with End Credits featuring Plan B, also using clips from the Harry Brown film, starring original gangster Michael Caine and paying tribute to the soundtrack, on which they appeared.

MC Rage comes into his own on Next Hype and is inventive on the mic, leading a ‘bigger than drum… bass’ chant to solidify dubstep’s dominance over other forms like hip-hop.

But alongside MC Rage they also treated the audience by bringing Delilah and Liam Bailey onstage to hit a crescendo with their most popular tunes Time and Blind Faith.

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