Stereo MCs at Brixton’s JAMM

With an unpopular, unelected Prime Minister, recession all around and hammer pants inexplicably back in fashion – everything does seem to have gone a bit ’90s. And with this in mind, The Boy and I set off to Brixton to see none other than the Stereo MCs on Saturday night.

You could be forgiven for thinking the Stereo MCs and their genre-defying, award-winning, pop-dance party tunes were no longer being made, or even that somewhat skeletal lead singer Rob Birch was actually dead, as a woman in the queue for the loo adamantly claimed. But you would indeed be wrong on both counts.

Rob is alive and well and somehow manages to be a talented white MC without either taking himself too seriously or taking the piss. As The Boy said whilst admiring Rob’s satin bomber jacket, emblazoned with flags of the world: “Wow, it’s like a parallel universe where Tim Westwood doesn’t have to be a complete twat.” Indeed.

They kicked off with the classic and cool 2001 hit, Deep Down & Dirty; more than fitting for a gig in an oversized shoebox on the outskirts of Brixton. This, and the next few songs, completely held the attention of a crowd who had clearly come here to party and were given tune after tune that allowed them to do so. The genuine party atmosphere continued throughout the set, and as you’d perhaps expect, when they played Connected and Step It Up, the roof really came off.

The two backing vocalists were integral in keeping the energy going, which was certainly sent straight back to them by a crowd who were loving every second of it. This cycle was, however, temporarily broken when towards the end of the set the MCs played a pared-down, slower track with an incredibly glib anti-war message – complete with clichéd images of tanks and crying children.

The good news is, however, that this isn’t a track taken from the new album, Dubble Bubble, but from 2005’s Paradise. And in all fairness, if a band without that much contemporary commercial success can play for nearly an hour and a half and only lose their complete hold over the crowd for five minutes or so, I think they’re doing pretty well.

It’ll certainly be interesting to see what happens with the album as the Stereo MCs really do occupy their own space in the music industry. From the moment they began making records in the early ’90s journalists were (as they often are…) baffled by a sound they couldn’t put a definitive tag on, although it didn’t stop them trying.

Fast-forward the best part of twenty years, and the situation is even more difficult, as it now seems that not only do lazy music journalists dislike any kind of crossover in music, but radio stations, TV channels and the purchasing public seem to want their music delivered in easily identifiable boxes too.

I’d love to think that the Stereo MCs (or any act) might have the power to mix things up a bit, and stop the highly unimaginative classifications of pop, rock and dance being set in stone, but sadly, I doubt it. Although having said that, they influenced a whole generation of artists fifteen or so years ago – maybe they could do it again.

Dubble Bubble is out now

Photograph by Mary Pryce