MC Tali

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We Love... Homelands 2004

Saturday 29th May 2004
The Bowl, Matterley Estate, nr. Winchester, Hants., England MAP
£54

Daily capacity: 50,000

The Movement Arena 3 saw Full Cycle’s New Zealand signing MC Tali play to a packed house in a venue that’s swiftly getting a reputation as the arena with the most buzzing atmosphere of the We Love… Homelands festival. Tali was sexy and confident onstage and the watching audience certainly seemed to be enjoying themselves, but I was less than convinced by the over-clean Kiwi’s stage-school delivery.

Tali, resplendent in tiny grey hotpants and matching spangly sweater, was accompanied by a live band and two choreographed dancing backing singers. While the crowd seemed to love the New Zealander’s cheeky Kylie-esque take on drum & bass, I was shocked that a lable as usually reliable as Full Cycle would have anything to do with something so sanitised and predictable.

Album tracks like “Blazing” and “Gonna Catch Ya” were nicely bassy and certainly got the audience moving, but I just could not take this set seriously. It was pure pop drum and bass and tracks like “Soul Star” seemed trite and stagey, like a Top of the Pops set. “Lyric on my Lip” was a high point and I left the Movement tent bopping happily to MC Tali’s “Drum n Bass,” but I walked away toward the Live Arena, distinctly unimpressed by the packaged Pop-ness of it all.