De La Soul @ The Enmore,Sydney (10/2/11)

Mon 14th Feb, 2011 in Gig Reviews

After more than 22 years of consistent touring and recording you would expect any band to be at the top of their game, De La Soul are exactly that and more. They bring a stage presence and an ability to control an audience which are unrivalled by almost all crews around today. If you want to disagree, you were obviously not at the Enmore last Thursday night.

Warming up the crowd was the job of local artist Dialectrix who would be followed by producer Dizz1. Dialectrix did the best he could with the small crowd of early arrivals. Even attempting some call-and-response towards the end of his set, a brave move considering the size of his audience. And with some help from another emcee on stage with him, gave a great performance. Even if he wasn’t getting much energy back from the crowd.

It’s hard to categorize the music Dizz1 produces live on stage. Predominantly using an MPC, he creates sounds which are a mash of hip hop, drum n bass and even ambient tones. He is helped out by two very strong emcees standing either side of his set-up in the middle of the stage. They toast in what can most closely be described as a dancehall or even ragga style. It’s nice to see someone bring something which is slightly different to the norm, and the now slowly building crowd seemed to really enjoy it.

Legendary producer Prince Paul then came to the stage for the last set before De La Soul. He started by reading off his long and illustrious resume to the crowd. But rather than just big-noting, he explained his reasons for doing this as the majority of audiences he plays to usually have no idea who he is. However, one would hope that an introduction from the man who produced most of the next acts biggest albums was not necessary. He told us that he was going to play a predominantly old-skool set, that would start old-skool… and stay old-skool. Immediately getting everyone on a loving vibe, he opened with Stevie Wonder’s My Cherie Amour . And then kept to his word, playing mostly older classics like Michael Jackson’s Don’t Stop Till You Get Enough and Sugarhill’s Apache . While occasionally dropping in slightly later classics like Bel Biv Devoe’s Poison and Beastie Boys’ Intergalactic . Along the way he interspersed tracks with cool little testimonials for himself that had been given by artists like Jay-Z and Craig Mack among others. The audience ate up the entire set… and then it was time for our headliners.

Prince Paul came back to the stage and once again posted up behind the decks. He gave a brief introduction before “Ga-ga-gangbusters!” Trugoy and Posdnuos exploded out of the blocks to a track they originally did with Common Gettin’ down at the Amphitheatre , followed by Potholes In My Lawn.

This tour was originally advertised as being a celebration of the 20th anniversary of the De La Soul is Dead record. Another classic album tour where the band would be playing an entire album from start to finish. Any De La die-hards reading this will know that the two aforementioned tracks were not off that record, and that there was something else missing, no Maseo. Prince Paul remained on stage for the DJ duties. It was possible they were playing a few tracks to get the crowd started with Paul before Maseo hit the stage.

Something that is always consistent about the De La show is there crowd interaction. Getting a few bars into a track then stopping cause “We want you all on your feet, YES even you in the seats up-top, GET UP!” They perform Much More and Stakes is High before giving us our first taste from the De La Soul is Dead record Pass the Plugs . Any plans to play the album in full were obviously no longer going ahead and there was still no sign of Maseo.

We would be given cracking versions of The Grind Date and Oooh! Before we got an explanation for the absence of their partner in crime. Trugoy explained that Maseo had planned to fly in the day before but his flight had been cancelled. Though Maseo is an almost irreplaceable personality within the group. There could not be a more appropriate shoe-filler for a De La show than Prince Paul, so the crowd did not seem to mind one bit. I speculate this was also the reason for the change in plans regarding the format of the De La Soul is Dead show.

Ego Trippin’ (Part two) came before a duo of radio favourites that started with A Roller-Skating Jam named “Saturdays” and finished with Me, Myself and I ._ Buddy_ followed, as the crowd waited on the beep “Hey, how are you doin’?” Ring, Ring, Ring sent all hands skywards as the Enmore erupted for the biggest song of the night. Both emcee’s exited the stage signalling the end of the set, leaving Prince Paul to briefly spin the wheels while the crowd called for their return.

After coming back to the stage they dropped Itzsoweezee and what sounded like a re-working of In the Woods before saying their goodbyes. During the set Trugoy had given a beautiful summation of what De La Soul is and I think it’s an appropriate way to finish this review. “We are not on some old shit, and we are not on some new. We just do Music, we love what we do, and we love the fact that you enjoy it”. Let’s hope the regularity of De La Soul visiting our shores continues, their music remains truly timeless.