Glastonbury Festival Glastonbury Festival 2000
Reprazent
Jazzworld Stage
23:00 Friday 23rd June 2000
Not
a huge crowd for the live jungle maestros, probably due to the pull
of the Chems on the Pyramid Stage. Back after a lengthy absence
from live performance, and with a new album ready to drop in September,
I was interested to see if their sound had developed and if they
could still cut it against the competition (E-Z Rollers). After
seeing them a couple of times when they were touring after "New
Forms", I thought that their sound was a bit narrow, and once
you'd seen em once you'd seen it all.
They
played a mix of old hits (Share the Fall, Brown Paper Bag etc) and
a load of new stuff including the forthcoming single. All the new
tracks were more melodic than I expected, with one almost uplifting
number towards the end, and were mostly vocal lead. The vocalists,
Onalee and MC Dynamite, tried to hype the slightly reluctant crowd
and although the band seemed energised the crowd took a while to
get going. They also played a non-jungle ragga style track, which
had a really different flavour to the rest of the set. Overall,
their new tunes sounded better developed, deviating from the jazzy,
hard Bristolian sound and showing new influences. Reprazent always
put on a good show, and this was no exception, the band working
well together and their drummer and bass player providing a driving
live force.
They
also played a wicked segment with the four producers (Roni Size,
Krust, Die and Suv) pasting together parts of their own records
along with classics from their associated labels . Dynamite told
the crowd to see how many they could name - I'm ashamed to say I
only remember four: It's Jazzy, Brute Force, Snapshot and Warhead
- it was great to here peoples cheers of recognition as they cut
em up. A moment for the proper jungle headz, and a nod from the
band to their hardcore fans.
They
wound up with an encore of Brown Paper Bag, which was good, but
they'd played it already. Overall I was impressed with the new diversity
of their set; they could of stuck to their tried and tested formula,
but didn't. It was always going to be difficult following up a genre
shaping album like New Forms, but it looks like they ain't gonna
do at all badly. I look forward to the new album… will it have
the same impact as the last?
review by Luke Williams
more pages about Roni Size
