Dead Prez are a Political Hip Hop duo from Florida, best known for their hit debut album "Let's Get Free", which spawned the classic "Hip Hop", used as the theme song for Dave Chappelle's Show. I've not heard of Dead Prez touring so often, so I was excited to go and see them perform at Band on the Wall in Manchester. Unfortunately, the show ended up being marred by the biggest talking point... Dead Prez turned up 2 hours later than scheduled, not taking the stage til 11pm!
Now misfortunes can happen at any organised event. Manchester has had an abysmal traffic situation recently. Roadworks everywhere you turn. Surely it is excusable for a band to turn up so late for a show right? Oh wait... The reason they were late is because they weren't happy with their hotel room and refused to go on stage until they got something fancier?! Damn...
So Dead Prez were scheduled to take the stage at 9pm, with a curfew of 10.30pm in place at the venue. An excited, packed out crowd waited patiently, listening to Hip Hop classics over the speakers, spending their hard earned cash on drinks at the bar. 9.30pm rolled around and still no sign of the show starting... By 10pm people were starting to get irritated. Then 10.30pm rolled around it there was a bad tension in the air, like things could kick off at any minute. Me and my friend actually decided to leave, but we happened to bump into another friend in the lobby and ended up chatting... Then all of a sudden it was 10:50pm and as we were about to give up and go home, we heard someone shout over that they were actually in the building now! And it was true. First the towels and bottles of water appeared on the stage. Then the DJ got out his laptop. And after about 10 minutes of disbelief, Dead Prez ACTUALLY took the stage!!!
Unfortunately for Dead Prez, they didn't actually get to perform to a packed out crowd. A good chunk of the crowd had gone home before they even entered the building. It's sad because I bet even some of the die hard fans had to give up and leave, after all the show should have finished half an hour before they even started, and some people have to get their last trains or get up early for work. And to rub salt in their wounds, Dead Prez were greeted with a round of boos from the crowd. What really annoyed me even further is that the DJ moronically came on and kept shouting "ARE YOU READY FOR DEAD PREZ?!?!" Erm, yes, we were ready TWO HOURS AGO!!!
In fairness to Dead Prez, they did still put on an hour length performance, which is very generous of the venue as it could have got them into trouble going so far over curfew. And the duo did issue an apology for their tardiness. Many of the die hard fans seemed to be won over who were going crazy at the front, but I was so annoyed and disappointed that I just couldn't get into this gig. A lot of the crowd, and the energy had vanished. The duo M1 and Sticman did have a very good chemistry together, and they have some great lyrics, but even their hour long set was a very mixed bag. They didn't really explore their classic debut album enough. We were treated to a great rendition of "They Schools" and the crowd went wild when they played their anthem "Hip Hop" near the end of the show, with it's slamming bassline and on point lyrics. But inbetween that there was far too much yapping. Considering they were already 2 hours late, the duo just talked and talked between songs, when we just wanted to hear some tunes. Also there were some really bad, cheesy and very dated R&B cuts thrown in, which just seemed to totally contradict what this band were even about. A track called "Dirty White Girls" completely failed to hit the mark.
I just don't understand how an artist can come all the way from America to perform such a lacklustre show. A true artist wouldn't let their fans down so bad, and nothing should be more important than playing the damn show and giving it their all! The show felt rushed, and the DJ didn't even use real decks. The fact that a dispute about a hotel room could be more important than performing music is completely inexcusable and it makes me think that they were just in it for the money. When they came on stage spitting their deep political poetry and asking "Do you wanna hear REAL HIP HOP?!" it just came out as so fake and phoney considering the circumstances. Absolutely one of the most disappointing shows I have ever been to. I actually feel bad for Band on the Wall and the promoters because I doubt any of it was their fault, and they have probably been hit by a wave of angry fans in the process. People have had their precious time and money wasted by Dead Prez. Fortunately Band on the Wall have offered ticket holders free tickets to see Smif N Wessun perform next week, in a very generous gesture. After this I wonder if Dead Prez will ever even tour the UK again, but if they do, they better bring their A-game and have some respect for the fans. 3/10.
March 17th 2016 @ Band On the Wall, Manchester.
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