Dizzee Rascal
Forum Theatre, Melbourne
Thursday 28th January, 2010

At a Forum Theatre only two-thirds full, Dizzee Rascal ticked all the boxes for a classic hip-hop show. There was hand waving (‘side to side, now we go side to side’), shoutouts to ‘the ladies’ and a competition between two sides of the crowd, culminating in an all-in holler. There’s no doubt that these things remain fun, no matter how many times in your life you’ve been instructed to ‘wave them like you just don’t care’.

It’s a telling way to run the show though, as Diz roams the stage with a fellow MC, backed up tonight by a DJ. Once, Rascal MC’d over the rude blare, blurt and bump of grime, voice jostling for attention amid a sound that owed something to hip-hop, but a lot more to UK traditions like 2-step, garage and dancehall. Tonight, we don’t get to hear the era-defining ‘I Luv U’ – its exclusion surely a statement of new sonic interests today. Still, it’s disappointing not to hear that particular song strafing from the roof-high speaker stack. We do get to hear ‘Fix Up, Look Sharp’ from that era. Those arena-rock drums slot easily into a set of maxed-out songs (with their own share of ‘big beat’ sounds), but their snap-fresh quality is distinct from the far busier productions Rascal trades in now.

And at the Forum it is mostly current material we hear, drawing from last year’s Tongue n’ Cheek. On that record, practically an album of singles, Rascal teamed with different producers, pushing further into retro rave styles and bombastic Euro electro. Otherwise questionable producers like Tiesto and Calvin Harris provide the perfect bed for Rascal’s bold presence, the programming matching Rascal’s ego. Nothing announces the sonic change more than ‘Bonkers,’ his closing song of the encore and a big single over here and in the UK. ‘Bonkers’ is one of a handful of moments tonight where the shift to a more approachable, crossover friendly electro sound reveals its payoffs. It’s a calculated, massive tune – huge, buzzing synth bass lines and a whole bunch of cheap rave tricks (computer voices, trance breakdown, double-time build ups etc) worked up with glee by Armand van Helden. As with much of the Cheek material, it sends the Forum’s dancefloor into a frenzy of pogoing. Rather than the slink and groove of hip-hop dancing, jumping up-and-down on the spot seems to be tonight’s favoured move. Hands in the air. Of course.

The hip-hop staging – the straight-man MC joins Diz to emphasise the last word of each line, the DJ seems to be there mostly as a figure to anchor the show in a tradition and in space, the apex of a triangle, allowing the two MCs to push out wide into the flanks of the stage – is a nod to familiar theatrics. But it fails to translate to an entirely convincing arrangement for Rascal’s new material, which comes via a backing disc (with fade outs). The back-up MC beefs up the sound of Rascal’s rhymes, but blurs many of the idiosyncrasies in Rascal’s delivery. The rhymes take on more bravado here, losing some of their eccentricity and humour (those speeding car noises in ‘Road Rage’!) – and much of Rascal’s amazing flow and sense of rhythm. There’s only scripted interaction with the audience, plus quick transitions between songs. It all feels a little rushed.

At just over an hour, the set is solid but something feels missing at its core. Those who paid $80+ for the honour of being here tonight might feel a little slighted at such a brief set. (The bigger problem for promoters might be that $80+ is just too much money for most people to splurge on Big Day Out sideshows, short of a Leonard Cohen or a Bob Dylan. As with the the Mars Volta show, there was ample room for dancing to Diz. And not quite enough people shouting when required. Perhaps the popstar of the decade deserves that much of your cash, for however long he decides to play.)

To the ears, the Dizzee show felt like a dance set with MCs, drawing strongly from the electrohouse portion of his catalogue. There were ample rave-style breakdowns and build-ups for excitement (see ‘Road Rage’). To the eyes, it was a hip-hop show. Neither the eyes nor the ears have it. Tonight’s show mostly suggested the traditions that grime draws on (hip hop, electro, rave, dancehall, 2step, reggae) – but also the various futures that it contains within it.

Dizzee operates, like much of grime currently, in a position 'in between'. Back in the UK, underground stars such as Tempa T are following the hard, angry sound of early grime to ends that still excite. While others – Chipmunk and Tinchy Stryder – are currently UK pop favourites. Like them, Rascal has always had a softer side – see early tracks like ‘Brand New Day' and the Ice Cube styled ‘Chillin’ Wiv Da Man Dem’ which we hear tonight – and an ear for pop, which perhaps makes him more willing to push outside the tough-guy genre boundaries. In Australia, at a geographical remove from many of grime’s hyperlocal traditions, that’s delivered him far bigger audiences than he probably ever expected. Tonight, the audience lapped up every minute of his set. Let's hope that any future sets on our shores integrate his old and his new material, which inform one another and form an impressive body of work. It could be a 90-minute powerhouse of a show.

Ben Gook

(Pics: Tim O'Connor)