Sweat, Smoke & Spirit at D DOUBLE E [@DdoubleE] headline show. `

Being an early bird is funny, the crowd is small, the energy is low and I’m just here in the corner in the same position I was when I went to Lord of the Mics back in 2015 and it still looks the same. You know how it is, when you get to a gig or a concert early! Everyone is standing against the wall or around the bar being sociable or should I say trying! However Sk Vibemaker interacted with the crowd well, he played ‘The’ tunes so it wasn’t an ‘awkward’ crowd.

8 O’clock came very fast and at this point the room was getting warmer and more energy was floating in the air. The DJ announced “It’s showtime everybody come to the middle of the stage”, all I saw was bodies push and shove towards the front of the stage to get the best spot to be able to get the best view. Several artists such as K2 World, Armour, Stogey, Ceaser, Mytus & Swarvo were the support acts at the start of the gig and got the vibe going for what was in store for later.

After Vibemaker had a few spins on the 1’s & 2’s, Elijah & Skilliam took over decks and was the heartbeat of the room for the rest of the night.

D Double came out in a calmest manner in a swarve red tracksuit. The warm up tunes were “Colours”, “Signal” & “Frontline”. This took all the hardcore Grime fans that have been following Double back to the early 2000.

The first guests to enter the stage with Double was Hyper, Sharky & Stormin with the track entailed “Take you out”, leading onto this, of course he had to complete the N.A.S.T.Y Crew by bringing out Kano with “3 Wheel ups“. In-between bringing out his guests, he explained the story behind meeting them and how the relationship between him and the artist was created. Next up had to be the durag King, JMEEE! “I wanna hear you say ooh, ooh, ooh, (serious) (serious)” It took some time for the crowd to get hooked onto the bar but when they did after a few round’s it was powers. You could definitely smell the environment that you were in at this point, sweat; smoke & spirit had surrounded me. But it was okay, “Birds in the sky”, “School Of Grime”, “Murkle Man” & “Rōshi” came out to play! Everybody was very happy to see Chip and Jammer on stage as it wasn’t expected at the time and the levels in the room just went a little higher. Capo the Champ came out fired up, ready to do his duties and shelled down the track “Mud”. The love in the room was very high as he captured the crowd with his presence as well as getting everybody spitting his bars.

Another great MC, Mez, bounced on the stage with his hyper energy and gifted our ears with his new single for the first time “Normal Shoes”. We don’t know when the release for this was however I can tell you it’s very soon. Minutes later the “Topper Top” riddim came on and so many people were confused as they didn’t know the intro of the track until the scariest body entered the stage with the craziest spirit, Teddy Bruckshot, Lady Chann and Killa P joined him on the stage one by one and shelled down the place.

After such energetic performances, Double came back on stage with BBK crew member Skepta to perform “Ladies Hit Squad”, this got everybody on their tip toes to capture the best recording however we already knew this was going to happen, as the East London MC already brought out JME, Kano, Chip & Jammer ! This had to happen. Diesle DPower & Footsie both made appearances on the stage with the tracks “See No Evil” & “Unruly”.

I really don’t know how I get into the position of being near a mosh-pit or even in it, but it happens. So when Newham Generals decided to come to the conclusion of creating a mosh-pit whilst “Hard” was playing, I ran in the complete opposite direction but I still felt the physical backlash. “Bad To The Bone”, “Bluku Bluku” & “Lemon Trees “ were a wicked combination put together as everybody knew the lyrics to the tunes and all you could see was Gunfingers and sweaty arms in the air. Even if you didn’t know the lyrics your body language represented that you did.

D Double E went on to perform his two last tracks of the night, his new single “How I Like It” which was released on February 3rd and the legendary track we was all waiting for “Streetfighter Riddim”. As soon as the “Swerve” instrumental dropped the audience was super hyped, as this was the pinnacle of the night. Double knew he couldn’t leave the place without saying goodbye properly, the selecta ran the beat “Circles” and majority of the acts that performed throughout the night grabbed the mic and went back to back with their best 8 bars and ended the night in the best way possible.

 @KhadejiaG