On a crisp March evening, myself and thousands of fans bundled into the Manchester Arena to watch a show which celebrated the stars of '90s and early noughties Hip Hop and RnB. The concert featured the royalty of that period with a stellar line-up. I saw myself scouring the small print on posters and websites as I could not believe that these were the real artists and not tribute acts or impersonators – Blu Cantrell, Mya, Eve, Salt n Pepa, Shaggy and Nelly were the main acts with Fatman Scoop as MC.
That explained the choice of venue – the Arena is the largest concert hall in the UK and is the second largest in Europe. It was almost sold out to capacity – enough to make you go wow but not enough to get in the way of a bit of dancing!
The show started before the 7pm line up with Fatman Scoop getting the crowd excited. He was hardly needed – the crowd were already ecstatic with excitement anticipating the treat of stars they would hear. Yet, if they were ecstatic, Scoop soon got them delirious! Along with some DJs local to Manchester and the UK hip hop scene who would appear throughout the night, a riveting opening set the pace for a simply unbelievable evening.
Blu Cantrell was the first main act and she was a fantastic performer – it was such a treat to hear her sing anthems from nearly twenty years ago – 'Hit ‘Em Up', 'Breathe' and 'Make Me Want To Scream'. This was a particularly moving set as Cantrell was tearful from the start – clearly emotional over the love and appreciation from the audience. This was to be a four hour concert with Cantrell as the first act – she may have supposed that the crowd wouldn’t arrive until later for the ‘bigger’ stars but while the Arena did get fuller as time went on, the crowd was at least three quarters present from the start and singing along with Cantrell. Cantrell released two albums in the first part of the 2000s and although still a public figure, hasn’t had much of a singing career since then. More to the pity – she has a soulful voice that is one in a generation and of course the RnB singer from that time had to be more than a voice, but competent in hip-hop performance as both genres were very closely linked at that time. Cantrell was a highlight of the night giving a powerful performance which was brought to life by her emotive connection to the music and the audience.
Fatman Scoop took a spot between each of the main acts, performing over some of the other hits of the time including his number 1 hit 'Be Faithful'. As the night went on, his interaction with the crowd along with some Uk Garage All Stars such as Lisa Maffia, MC Romeo, Oxide and Neutrino, DJ Luck and MC Neat, MC DT and Sweet Female Attitude.
Some of these interludes catered for the Manchester crowd – in a typical episode where two MCs took a side of the Arena each to see which part of the crowd could sing the loudest – it was soon decided that that would not work as the people of Manchester “would not be torn apart”. A later moment saw Fatboy Scoop, who also has a motivational TV show, talk about the Arena bombing with sensitivity and strength – we would not be scared, he said, by terrorists. And he said it again, and again and again – and we all said it until the music started to play 'Wonderwall' and the entire Arena burst into song. This was no crass or gimmicky appropriation but a well thought out and sincere connection with the audience.
Mya was the second artist to perform, this time with an added hip hop dance element with Mya performing along with male and female dancers. 'Case Of The Ex (Whatcha Gonna Do)', 'It’s All About Me', 'Ghetto Superstar', 'Take Me There', 'Lady Marmalade' from the Moulin Rough film were real nostalgia moments. Mya put on quite the act between the choreography and the singing. It struck me, listening to Mya and Blu Cantrell, that while their music came from an age where production techniques were increasingly affecting style and in a genre where technology was really changing and evolving, the vocal quality of the singers was immense, there was no hiding behind tech. This made the experience of these live musicians even better. This was no well-chosen CD playlist, this was a music experience that may not occur ever again.
The night got more Hip Hop as the night went on, with Eve providing a good balance between sung RnB and rap. 'Who’s That Girl', 'Gangsta Love', 'Tambourine' and of course the unmistakeable 'Let Me Blow Ya Mind'. The crowd sung along giving energy back – it was clear that each performer was really relishing the energy at the Arena.
Salt N Pepa brought us to the full Hip Hop part of the night – the energy and engagement from Salt (Cheryl James) and Pepa (Sandra Denton) (with DJ) lifted the concert to a different high. The sheer pleasure that these performers give is indescribable – an interactive start testing the crowd’s knowledge of Hip Hop classics kept the momentum going which was hardly necessary when 'Whatta Man', 'Push It', 'Let’s Talk About Sex' were standing out in the set list.
Shaggy’s performance saw him balance extended MC-ing with his own hits. This slot of the evening really drove home that this concert was really well planned out and did not convert itself in to a simple scrolling of top hits of RnB and Hip-Hop, but was an experience that was relevant, engaging and true to its origins. 'Mr. Bombastic', 'Angel', 'In The Summer Time' and of course 'It Wasn’t Me' contain extended rap and improvised sections with beautifully melodic anthems that the crowd went crazy for.
Nelly really set himself up for the star act of the night. He wasn’t the only multimillion album seller, nor the only grammy winner of the night but it was a fitting and energetic end to a four hour mega session of RnB and Hip Hop royalty. 'Dilemma', 'It’s Getting Hot In Here' and 'Ride With Me' and many more hits saw extended performances with City Spud, in whose honour Nelly would be seen wearing a sticking plaster below his eye in many performances while Spud was incarcerated. Well it is Hip Hop after all!
This KISStory tour at Manchester Arena combined a fantastic venue, a crowd and atmosphere that would do Manchester proud with a well crafted programme of entertainment from costume to dance to pyrotechnics with the cream of the crop of singers, MCs and rappers which made for an event that should go down in history.
Reviewer - Aaron Loughrey
on - 6/3/20
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