I really wanted to go watch Aitch perform in Norwich which is a city close by he performed on December 12th but tickets sold out really quickly and I didn’t get to buy one. He added extra dates to his September tour because all the tickets sold out in 7 minutes.

Because of the Coronavirus I haven’t been able to get to any live events and make a review. All gatherings of people have been cancelled including festivals, concerts and even weddings. I’m disappointed i was looking forward to going to some shows as I’ve never had the opportunity to see someone perform live before. Since lockdown online events have became quite popular you can watch artists perform on the internet from the safety of your home and a lot of artists are doing them to help raise money. I’ve had a look to see what online live streams are upcoming i couldn’t find any rap/hip hop/grime shows so I’m going to review two past events.

Because of the Coronavirus I haven’t been able to get to any live events and make a review. All gatherings of people have been cancelled including festivals, concerts and even weddings. I’m disappointed i was looking forward to going to some shows as I’ve never had the opportunity to see someone perform live before.

Since lockdown online events have became quite popular you can watch artists perform on the internet from the safety of your home and a lot of artists are doing them to help raise money. I’ve had a look to see what online live streams are upcoming i couldn’t find any rap/hip hop/grime shows so I’m going to review two past events.

Teen Scene Parties – Blazer Boccle (live) Easter Neon Night

I wanted to review blazer boccle because he’s from my home town and i would like to one day go and watch him live. Rio Grande do teen scene parties where most of the Bradford grime artist perform and i really want to go to this event. In the video he just performs one song but i chose this one to review because i would love to perform at this event and the artist is a big inspiration.

Teen scene party is an under 18s event that happens at Rio Grande in Bradford which is a wedding and event venue. This event was a neon themed Easter party there was a lot of people there the room was full. Blazer was accompanied by his mate and fellow rapper also, Bailey P was the DJ. Bailey P makes baseline songs and posts them on Soundcloud the DJ is playing the backing track there are no live instrument been played. i noticed that when the beat drops and when he starts rapping the original backing track has been remixed into a baseline mash up. i think it sounds better than the original beat i think he did this because everybody in Bradford loves and appreciates baseline and Bailey p specialises in making baseline tracks i think it was a thoughtful thing to do and clever because it got the crowd jumping.

I think the energy and the hype he gave out was great he was very energetic and moving about and dancing he got the crowd singing with him i think its important that you move and jump about when hearing baseline because this type of music is meant to hype you up and make you dance.

His vocals were neat he didn’t say anything that wasn’t in the original song he sounded just like the record with the Bradford accent. He normally swears and uses bad language but this time he was mindful of his young audience and kept his words clean.

At the start of the video when the backing track starts to play the audience instantly start screaming and jumping up and down because of the realisation of what song it is. Throughout the song the crowd are jumping up and down and singing along with him they’ve got their flashlights on their phones and there waving them about you can tell the audience are having a good time and enjoying themselves. He interacts well with the crowd and he gets them to sing you can hear them singing really loud this tells me a lot of people know and like his music there’s some kids dancing on the stage who want to be part of the show.

The sound quality sounded good but its hard to tell when watching it on video i think seeing it live i could of judged it better. I think blazers a good live performer and i really like how he thought about the audience by not swearing and keeping it professional and using the baseline backing track. One of the guys who was on stage performing with him was on his phone and i think its a bit unprofessional because he’s supposed to be in the moment with the audience and not checking his Snapchat.

Aitch – Polaris – Stay Home and Vibe #WithMe

I chose to review Aitch because I wanted to go see him live but I couldn’t. On June the 3rd 2020 aitch teamed up with YouTube music and did a live stream of his new EP ‘Polaris’ to raise money for three different charities to do with #BlackLivesMatter. The stream has no audience only an online audience due to Coronavirus. Right at the start of the stream theres a quote from Martin Luther King jr “There comes a time when silence comes betrayal” and another quote saying “Today I choose to use my voice” this made me think it was coming from aitch to represent black lives matter. For an introduction it show short clips from aitches live shows and clips from interviews where he’s talking about how his fame has gone from the bottom right to the top.

Aitch appears in a big room with visuals of space on the wall behind him and on the floor he said his hellos to YouTube and got straight on with the first song. The camera is set up to film aitch at an audiences point of view so watching it gives you the experience of being there. As soon as he starts you can feel his energy with his quick fire rapping and pacing but he seems very relaxed and confident he’s got a good a cheekiness and a boy like charm about him that the girls love. In his first song he adds a new section he does an acapela verse this means there’s no other music apart from his vocals I like how it dropped out and he kept rapping keeping the timing. After the song he’s encouraging people to donate and he’s reading out the donations and bigging up the people donating.

As his second song starts zombie the visuals start to kick in he’s got stars behind him and the sun on the floor i think the visuals are eye catching I think he uses the space visuals because his new EP is called Polaris which means north star. When this song finishes aitch takes time to say this isn’t about me or the music its about the situation going on around the world. Aitch is also selling merch and he said he’s going to auction his shoes he’s wearing to the charities.

Aitch introduces Aj Tracey into the room to perform the song (rain) that they both made i think they performed well together and they’re both bouncing of each others energy. I also liked the camera effect of dripping rain because it relates to the song. I think the performance on the original track sounds better because you can’t hear when he’s breathing but you can live i think they should of avoided this. When Aj Tracey was doing his verse i noticed that he got his words wrong but he didn’t let that little mistake throw him off.

I find it fascinating how he doesn’t run out of breath and its just constant rapping and how he’s like a dictionary with the words he raps i feel like if you gave someone his lyrics they would choke up and get tongue twisted. Aitch has a quick and unique flow but you can still hear all his words clearly even with his Mancunian accent. Aitch has constant energy throughout the performance he’s moving his hand about this is good because it illustrates his energy behind the lyrics. Its cool how the music cuts out and he continues rapping with the same tempo and same flow the music comes back in and he’s still on time with the beat i think this shows what a good musician he is. Even though he doesn’t have the audience there with him he’s still encouraging people that are staying at home to get on there feet and vibe with him. He’s also letting the people know he cant see them but he can see what they’re saying (tweets) so he’s still interacting with the audience.

I think its good how he saved his latest song for the last one to perform because personally i think its the best one and its a good way to end the stream. These are all new songs from his EP which he hasn’t performed live or on stage before but the way he raps them you would think he’s been performing them for a long time. I like how he bigged up Manchester as its his hometown and representing your area plays a big part of hip-hop.

On this stream i think the visuals are amazing they follow the beat of the music and on some songs the visuals and camera effects relate to the words i also like how the visuals are space themed because it relates to the theme of his EP Polaris. I think the visuals really top it off and make up for the fact there isn’t an audience there with him. The quote from the start appears again at the end and stays on screen for eight minutes which encourages and gives people more time to make any last donations.

I think this was a brilliant idea to raise money for the situation going on around the world and i found his performance inspiring and one day i hope to perform like him.

Set List

Safe to say

Zombie

Moston

Triggered

Like Them

Rain

Raw

30