Tuesday, July 10, 2007
Lady Sovereign review Halloween 2005
Lady Sovereign
The ICA, London
31 October
Who’s not going to like Lady Sovereign? The woman is set to take over. Her songs are ace, for a start. The new single, Hoodie, is a boogie-oogie-oogie bum-bouncing piece of grime magic. The show’s closer tonight, Public Warning, is a proper noisy ravey ska rock punk whambanger. She’s 19 years old, 5’1” and cute, and she can pull off being a cocky little fucker. She punched a bouncer before the gig tonight. It’s Halloween and she swaggers onto stage in a pumpkin-coloured Adidas trackie and a Chucky mask. She belches, inspiring herself to start a burping competition among the audience (“You can win a hoodie!” she announces, wide-eyed. “It’s Adidas!”). She tells us about pissing herself when she was drunk (“Everyone’s done it”), meeting Gordon Brown last week (“He says he likes my stuff”) and beating another girl up with a broom. She introduces Hoodie saying, “Everyone, put your hoods up. See, no one got shot!” Sov does great banter, and I’m so bored with mumbling blokes with guitars.
She also reignites my love for rave (no, really, that’s a good thing). Her DJ, Frampster, plays before she comes on. It’s very loud, the ICA is very dark, everyone faces the stage, it’s like Bolton in 1990.
Jay-Z is working on her album, out next February. So is Missy Elliott (she’s a fucking raver too), and it looks like the Neptunes will be as well. This seems like some amazing rags-to-riches tale when you read the Guardian plugs about the little girl from Neasden, but when you hear Lady Sovereign you realise that it’s not amazing at all. She’s a genius. They’re lucky to be working with her.
She’s a great MC, she’s funny, she only gives a shit about stuff that matters. Her songs make me happy. I think I may have a Lady crush.
The ICA, London
31 October
Who’s not going to like Lady Sovereign? The woman is set to take over. Her songs are ace, for a start. The new single, Hoodie, is a boogie-oogie-oogie bum-bouncing piece of grime magic. The show’s closer tonight, Public Warning, is a proper noisy ravey ska rock punk whambanger. She’s 19 years old, 5’1” and cute, and she can pull off being a cocky little fucker. She punched a bouncer before the gig tonight. It’s Halloween and she swaggers onto stage in a pumpkin-coloured Adidas trackie and a Chucky mask. She belches, inspiring herself to start a burping competition among the audience (“You can win a hoodie!” she announces, wide-eyed. “It’s Adidas!”). She tells us about pissing herself when she was drunk (“Everyone’s done it”), meeting Gordon Brown last week (“He says he likes my stuff”) and beating another girl up with a broom. She introduces Hoodie saying, “Everyone, put your hoods up. See, no one got shot!” Sov does great banter, and I’m so bored with mumbling blokes with guitars.
She also reignites my love for rave (no, really, that’s a good thing). Her DJ, Frampster, plays before she comes on. It’s very loud, the ICA is very dark, everyone faces the stage, it’s like Bolton in 1990.
Jay-Z is working on her album, out next February. So is Missy Elliott (she’s a fucking raver too), and it looks like the Neptunes will be as well. This seems like some amazing rags-to-riches tale when you read the Guardian plugs about the little girl from Neasden, but when you hear Lady Sovereign you realise that it’s not amazing at all. She’s a genius. They’re lucky to be working with her.
She’s a great MC, she’s funny, she only gives a shit about stuff that matters. Her songs make me happy. I think I may have a Lady crush.
