Outlook Festival and Colston Hall teamed up to celebrate the venues 150th year, bringing along a diverse lineup to the popular harbour side location. Lloyds Amphitheatre hosted performances from Goldie and the Heritage Orchestra last year, as well as Bonobo and Hacienda Classical earlier this year. This show however, was one of their most ambitious yet…
While there was an overall theme of dub and sound system music, the lineup also catered for the hip hop and grime fans, many of which may have been there to see Roots Manuva or American rapper Pharoah Monch. Flying the flag for the UK grime scene were ex-Roll Deep veterans Killa P and Flowdan, as well as Newham Generals’ Footsie. UK hip hoppers Jehst and Foreign Beggars were both featured alongside homegrown talent, while original junglist Congo Natty also performed with vocalists Nanci & Pheobe.
When it comes to headline dub and reggae acts, it would be hard to beat the legendary Horace Andy, as well as the nation’s favourite, Dawn Penn. MC Jila from Gentleman’s Dub Club was also an important figure throughout, working closely with his bandmate Tommy Evans – the brains behind both Gentleman’s Dub Club and Submotion Orchestra. Evans orchestrated and lead the whole show, while Ruby Wood from Submotion Orchestra also joined the party. With an extraordinary 100 minute mix, the 20-piece Outlook Orchestra warmed up the stage for Roots Manuva. It was a tough act to follow, even for someone of Manuva’s calibre.
To gain the benefits of both a live performance and a DJ set is no easy task, and other than a handful of exceptions, many experiments like this are often destined to fail. This crew have access to some incredible artists, and an equally smart team coordinating it all. Over the course of the night, they worked their way through every Outlook Festival anthem, from the rowdy energy of Pharoah Monch’s Simon Says, to the quiet depth of Mala’s elusive Alicia white label (on which he sampled Alicia Keys, hence the title).
This was not your average show; there was no soundcheck, no down time in between artists. In fact, it was quite the opposite, with the band working much like a DJ would, blending elements from the last track into the next. Effectively, they created live remixes of carefully selected classics, some being seriously close to the original, such as Skream’s timeless Midnight Request Line. Mimicking electronic sounds with real instruments worked better with tracks such as The Bug’s Skeng, where both Killa P and Flowdan tore it up with their verses over blasting horns. Historical piece by local artist Roni Size entitled Brown Paper Bag was another inspired choice, with the iconic double bass working especially well. The version of Mala’s Alicia also deserves another mention, where the jazzy riffs were embellished further with live flute. As for Submotion Orchestra’s Ruby Wood, anybody who had seen her sing live before knew what to expect and those that hadn’t were stunned. The electric piano sounded almost identical to the record, as did the difficult shuffling hi-hats and cymbals
The drummers deserve a huge amount of credit as well, not only for switching between every fast genre of music you could think of; they had a number of tempo changes to content with as well, with each turn and twist receiving a lot of love from the receptive crowd. Competing with all of this madness were the dub and reggae acts of course, but one of the liveliest moments came from a rendition of Victory by Bristol-based dub duo Dubkasm, thanks to its ferocious brass section. Horace Andy sounded as if he was half his age, and as Dawn Penn and the crowd sang their hearts out for No No No, there was yet another lift from the captivated audience.
After a whirlwind 100 minutes, there was no time to waste as Roots Manuva began his exclusive set. Picking some songs from his back catalogue and lots of new material, he managed more than just to keep everyone interested. His enigmatic rap style and world-class showmanship made for a breathtaking show, but nothing quite as mind blowing as the Outlook Orchestra.
If you get the chance to catch one of the orchestra’s tour dates, do it. Without having to follow them to Croatia for Outlook Festival, you could experience the best bits squeezed into less than two hours.
