The weekly club night, YOYO's, tailored to London's cutting edge urban crowd hosted a night of live music ending in one of their legendary DJ sets.
The first act I caught, Clement Marfo & The Frontline, was an explosion of energy that promote themselves as a 'seven piece hip hop rock band' and that is exactly what they are. The charismatic front man Clement Marfo leads the group vocally with the backup of fellow vocalist Kojo.
The Frontline themselves do not fade into the background in comparison as they very much provide the heavy bass, rocking drum beats and rock-induced guitar riffs that Marfo and Kojo layer with their vibrant flowing vocals.
Not only are they talented rappers, their singing vocals are so smooth and refined with real soul that especially shone through when they performed 'Survivors', an extremely moving, spine-tingling song that Marfo dedicated to a friend he had lost five years previous.
The best way to describe their style is a crossover between hip hop and rock think Linkin Park and Jay-Z's 'Collision Course' album or Limp Bizkit.
By the time they performed their latest hit 'Mayhem' the crowd were moving about and rocking out to the uplifting tunes, and the surprise appearance of grime MC/actor Kano onstage for his part in the tune sent the building crazy.
It was a really professionally done, uplifting set for a small venue and theyre definitely a band to see live.
In a whirlwind of tattoos, facial hair and a cheeky grin, Mikill Pane took to the stage in the way he knows best by encouraging the crowd to be more hyped up for his first headlining set at the venue.
Can of Red Stripe in hand, he began by treating the eager crowd, who were joining in the jokes with him and shouting out friendly banter, to tunes from his upcoming 'Morris Dancer' EP, with the assistance of Little Bear as well as another female singer Yoshi joining him independently for different tunes.
The crowd seemed a little delayed in jumping on to Mikill's wordplay and enigmatic presence although I amongst a gaggle of clear fans was sold from his appearance onstage. As he launched into the electro fuelled 'Cut Back FFWD' with Little Bear providing an 80's feel chorus, the crowd began cutting their shapes around the room and it didnt take long to reel them in.
Pane is a really engaging performer filling the transitions between songs with playful banter and connecting with the crowd: "Everybody clap. If you're not clapping you better have a disabled badge!"
Panes set was a revolving door full of talent as fellow singers joined him onstage and left throughout. At one point Pane summoned the huge but gentle faced XO Man from the crowd to perform their collab tune, Follow Fashion, which had the audience hyped up.
By the time Pane dipped into 'The Guinness & Blackcurrant' EP the place was filled with an immense vibe; this was my favourite part of the set personally as the combination of Pane and indie singer Ben Clemo gels together so effortlessly with Clemo proving he has a really strong live vocal, especially in their performance of 'Golden'.
They are a captivating duo when they perform together as they couldn't be more different in their style yet it fits so perfectly.
Overall, Mikill Pane proved that his talent does not just exist in concocting meaningful and tongue-in-cheek lyrics behind closed doors, as he can 100% deliver a roof-raising set.
article by: Fiona Madden
photos by: Lawrence Wheeler
published: 08/02/2012 17:15
FUTURE GIGS
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