J-Rocc, who alongside DJ Babu forms the musical backbone of the Beat Junkies, was spinning some wicked beats in true hiphop style. Quickly cutting beats and juggling records, J-Rocc played an epic set, playing up to the crowd by dropping classics like Can I Kick It, White Lines, and 3 Is The Magic Number. J-Rocc was a close friend of J-Dilla, and played many of his tracks in tribute. But it wasn’t all hiphop – he dropped some Buju Banton and even played Safety Dance at one stage, much to the delight of the older folk and Simpsons fans in the crowd.

Although the crowd were loving it, throwing their hands in the air and cheering when J-Rocc did the robot on stage, the roar as Breakestra come to the stage showed why everyone was there. Letting people know they had a new album out From Dusk Til Dawn, the Kid Named Miles led the band through an epic two hours of non-stop funk.

If you’ve never experienced Breakestra before, they’re a 10 piece funk group, inspired by classic funk and soul of the 60s and 70s, but address it with a hip-hop attitude. Whilst they don’t use any pre-recorded samples, they’ll drop live samples into their sets. For example, they’ll drop the iconic horns from Marva Whitney’s Unwind Yourself, better known as the horns from DJ Kool’s Let Me Clear My Throat, and then bust out one of their own tunes.

Dropping some funky stuff from the Meters, they introduced Afrodyete, a guest singer on the new album whose poise and powerful voice in reminiscent of the great Tina Turner. Unfortunately Mixmaster Wolf couldn’t join this tour, but Miles and Afrodyete performed the songs he generally sings on admirably.

As the band continues to morph its way through beats and breaks, combining their own records such as Get It Right and Getcho Soul Together, they play stuff from the Jacksons, James Brown, Stax and more. They sent the crowd wild by playing Jimmy Castor’s Just Begun into the Incredible Bongo Band version of Apache. Another stand out was Miles’ rearrangement of Ring Of Fire by the great Johnny Cash, which is simply too groovy.

Although Breakestra is essentially just Miles and Wolf, with a rotating group of musicians on both albums and tours, their professionalism and cohesion as a band is evidence throughout the show. Myles is proficient on bass, guitar, and even the cello, as evidenced by the track Me & Michelle. Drummer Jason Pitkin deserves a special mention as well. Stopping only twice, he did a phenomenal job at keeping the beat going for the entire show.

Whilst I’m sure the crowd would have wanted the band to play from dusk to dawn, they concluded it after what felt like a very short two hours. The energy and professionalism they have on stage is just phenomenal, and once it had ended it felt as though everyone went to the merchandising stand to get a souvenir of the incredible show they had just been a part of.