What better way for Lewisham duo D-Block Europe to celebrate their first number one album than with four sold-out shows at the O2 Arena? The rappers kicked off their London gigs yesterday evening, bringing us a night filled with fireworks, reverberating vocal effects, dodgy lighting and surprise appearances from Central Cee and Skepta.
The pair released their third studio album Rolling Stone last month, which – despite some critics labelling it "misogynistic" and "superficial" – quickly rocketed to number one in the UK album charts. Regardless of controversy, D-Block Europe have proved that they aren’t short of fans (23 million on Spotify), who arrived to the show sporting their Sunday best.
Members Young Adz (Adam Nathaniel Williams) and Dirtbike LB (Ricky Earl Banton) emerged onstage in flames, both donning Anna Wintour-style sunglasses that stayed firmly in place throughout the night. From the moment they appeared the O2 was flooded with the rolling, robotic sound of Auto-Tune that has become the duo’s signature.
This deliberately heavy helping of computerised vocals made it difficult at times to work out whose voice was whose. Much of their patter between songs was incomprehensible.
In the first half of the show, the loudest reactions came from hits like I Need It Now, Kevin McAllister, Bankroll Got Bigger, as well as Pink Lemonade, for which they were joined on stage by Young Bxne, who features on the track. Midway through, the crowd’s hopes and dreams were fulfilled as Central Cee ran onstage to perform Overseas – predictably, the women went wild.
The stage, shaped like a runway and connecting a middle island with the main stage, was sporadically dotted with four female dancers, who could often be seen dancing entirely different choreography to the next. Though that didn’t matter much, since there were no lights on them – or the main stage in fact. At times, it even felt more like a solo show from Young Adz, who remained mostly on the island, whilst Dirtbike LB hid in the shadows of the main stage, out of view for a large amount of the show.
The weirdest part of the whole thing was the way each song ended. No track blended or transitioned into the next, instead, it would either slowly fade out into silence, or would end abruptly part way through, leaving the crowd to finish it for them. Even the big hits we were all waiting for – Ferrari Horses, Pakistan and Eagle – were cut off part way through. Raye’s vocals were unplugged mid-lyric. It seemed like a technical issue, but kept happening?
Towards the end, an appearance from Skepta was the biggest surprise of the night, who came on to perform his latest single Gas Me Up. Tottenham rapper Chip, formerly known as Chipmunk, also emerged twice throughout the evening. With a few sound issues and even bigger lighting issues, it’s a good thing D-Block Europe have got three more London shows to get it right. Despite technical obstacles, their hits carried them through, as did the volume of the crowd. By the end of the night, even the O2’s security guards weren’t missing a lyric.
