QUANNUM presents SOLESIDES REUNION TOUR by Alan Moore [evil:cat]

Manchester Academy 25/11/00
By now, everybody knows what to expect from Quannum (née Solesides): beats that hit the spot, and rhymes that either make you think, or just go 'What the fuck?'

What no-one expected was to see a crowd worked with such expertise.

It started off quietly, with Shadow wandering onstage, grabbing a mic and announcing that the Life Savas wouldn't be playing. But this was a hall full of hardcore Solesides/Quannum fans, and it seemed none of them could give a shit. Instead we got a half hour set of Shadow working his way through some classic UK Hip Hop tracks that he'd 'dug deep' for. And as an added bonus the first audience member to name three of the tracks won a copy of Brainfreeze.

While Xcel stayed silent behind his decks Shadow was more chatty than you'd expect. Lyrics Born meanwhile was obviously loving it, a big shit-eating grin plastered across his face, bouncing around like a friendly bear. A dread locked Lateef leapt around like a Rasta on speed, resembling one of those homeless drunks who goes apeshit when you don't give him any money. Gab stuck to his name, spouting rhymes that'd make your head spin, looking like a schoolteacher rocking it on his night off.

Intermittently the action stopped for some crew/crowd call/response, everything from waving your hands in the air to shouting 'smoke that shit' like a mantra. At one point they requested we all pile to the front and shake hands with the crew. We've all seen these tricks played a million times by every wannabe rock star. But in the hands of this crew, it seemed fresh.

Almost every tune performed was spot-on, most included enough space to freestyle off on a tangent, kicking it out and around the room before heading back for the safety of the recorded original. From the word go, when Lateef, Lyrics and Gab came on to do 'Burning Hot In Cali On A Saturday Night', it was plain they were loving it. But who wouldn't love playing for a crowd that's lapping up every beat, rhyme and break?

The first half, following Shadow's UK hip hop set, was essentially Latyrx, with the occasional bit of help from Gab when needed. Shadow manned the decks while X sat backed and rocked on to the grooves. In the liner notes to 'Greatest Bumps,' Zen says that 'Lady Don't Tek No' is an aural aphrodisiac. I can testify that, from the way the girls around us were bumpin'n'grindin', he's absolutely right in his assessment. The pace built up and up, till finally they announced an interlude.

Shadow ripped up the tunes, giving a lesson in 'Hardcore (Instrumental) Hip Hop.' He cut, scratched and span with great decksterity but impressive though it was, it turned the crowd off a little. We all liked the skills, but it was like trying to dance to a guitar solo...

Second half : Blackalicious support rapper Vursatyl takes to the stage, to announce the arrival of Joyo Verlarde. This lady has one hell of a voice! She sang the intro’ to Balcony Beach, then cut into 'People Like Me' from the Spectrum LP. The only problem with the performance was Versatyle took a minute to adjust his voice to a nice deep baritone to complement Joyo's voice. But once he got there, the song was impeccable.

Next up Blackalicious took to the stage and set the room on fire... with big fuck-off flamethrowers. X on decks, with Gab backed up by Versatyle and Joyo. Truly a hip hop super group. There was no room for slower or mellow tracks in this set though, they just tore the place apart. At the climax of the set, they had the whole room singing the 'ba de ba-ba-ba de-da's to 'Deception'.

Then as quickly as they had arrived, they vanished.

The crowd went insane, screaming for more. The entire Solesides crew returned onstage, and performed freestyle, each of the four rappers taking turns, Lateef even clambering up the speaker stack. For the grand finale, Gab performed 'Alphabet Aerobics,' the crowd pogo-ing faster and faster to the beat till the last breathless word came out his mouth.... 'ZEALOTS!' Lyrics Born, shit-eating grin still intact, crowd surfed.

Suddenly it was dead. But the crew had worked the crowd into such a frenzy that when Shadow came back onstage to announce new albums next year by Lyrics Born, Joyo, Versatyle, Blackalicious and himself, he got cheered and applauded and whistled until you could hardly hear what he was saying.

Then, they were gone.

As I said, by now, everybody knows what to expect from the Quannum crew, but they managed to exceed all our expectations. Here's hoping they'll be back soon to blow us away once again.