When I first heard of DJ FORMAT it was about three years ago at Glastonbury and he was billed as DJ Format Feat. M.C. Abdominal. As a result I immediately had images of a Mr Motivator type of DJ dressed from head to toe in Lycra getting the crowd to ‘feel the burn.’ Instead I was pleasantly surprised by two nondescript men, playing to a group of screaming fans rapping along to every song and dancing like there was no tomorrow, with not a glimpse of Lycra in sight!
Seeing again him on Monday I was pleased to note that nothing had changed. The gig was fantastic! Set in the small sweaty confines of Newcastle union’s Global Café, the concert had sold out weeks before, and people were being turned away from the door. With around 300 punters in the venue, everyone seemed up for a good night out, and no one was disappointed.
Supporting the MC was LITTLE BARRIE - a band that deserves a full review in their own right. A three piece with a singing drummer this funky, blues band have been critically acclaimed for their debut album and it’s easy to see why. Little Barrie managed to warm up the crowd getting them to dance and sing along to songs off their album, including their last single ‘Free Salute.’ When their set finished the crowd was already shouting for more, and so by the time that DJ Format came on stage 10 minutes later flanked by Abdominal and new MC D-Sisive, the energy in the crowd was enough to charge a small village.
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Most of the set consisted of songs off the new album ‘If You Can’t Join Em, Beat Em’, but some old favourites were played too such as a speeded up version of "Battle-Raps" - imaginatively renamed "Vicious Rhymes." Format's signature b-boy instrumentals, down-tempo sketches and body rocking backdrops were mixed seamlessly throughout the gig and I think the high point of the evening came when Abdominal and D-Sisive started freestyling using subject ideas written down earlier in the evening by members of the audience. I was incredibly impressed by this bit, mostly because I could never do something like that myself, lacking all talent and musical imagination, but also because of the bizarre subject matters that they had to rap about: think apple pies, Sammy Davies Junior’s new album and particle physics and marvel!
Format was on stage for around 1 hour and his heavy funk tracks were fresh and full of life. Abdominal and D-Sisive put every effort into each song getting the crowd to sing along to tracks and by the end of the evening there was not a dry t-shirt in sight. Rock on British Hip Hop!
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