Paying Homage as Well as Returning Favours-Jurassic 5 09.10.2006 Paradiso Amsterdam-

Why it took me half a month and a full day to finally fork out €19 to watch J5 is beyond me now. Having not heard their most recent album and the fact that a 9am morning awaited me the following day fuelled my hesitation to take the trip to Paradiso Amsterdam. However, when I remembered the last concert I attended was to watch the Infadels 6 months previously, I finally came to my senses. It turned out to be one of my better gambles.

From The Arcade Fire to Simon and Garfunkel, I don’t recall leaving a gig feeling quite this pleased. I also don’t recall seeing Paradiso as packed as last night. The crowd played their part though as J5 were the most interactive group I’ve seen live and played with the mob superbly. As they went through their repertoire of past albums and their latest release, Feedback, they never lost control of the crowd as we were entertained to everything from old skool rapping to Afrika Bambataaesque electronica to turntablism

Being my first hip-hop concert, I’m left agog on how flexible the genre actually is. Almost all the numbers were medley with all 4 MC’s mixing the standard lyrics from their albums with freestyle references to Amsterdam and its grass culture and political messages amongst others. DJ Nu-Mark played his part mixing past track samples with all sorts of wicked sh*t not to mention 3 solos. Before the encore Nu-Mark went solo playing 3 different turntables to samples from everything from Sugar Hill drumbeats to George Clinton Synthesizers. The encore started with the recent single release and ended with Chali 2na, Marc 7even, and Akil rapping freestyle with homage to golden age hip hop and the host city.

After the 2 or so hour gig all 5 stayed behind and socialized with the audience who stayed behind. After 3 spliffs I could hardly be bothered trying to get anything signed so I tried my luck getting a t-shirt from the merchandise area. Jurassic 5’s latest album may fall to mixed reviews but their live performance was certainly a spectacle and offered something different to rock or indie concerts I’ve been accustomed to. This makes it all the harder to accept the fact that both gigs of The Roots in November have been sold out. Now I have to rely on getting some tickets in Munich!!