Public Enemy

The Warehouse Project is a series of events running at Manchester’s old Boddingtons Brewery for the remainder of 2006. While most nights at the venue will see performances from a multitude of (mainly) dance acts, the first night belonged solely to legends of Hip Hop, Public Enemy.

Some opening night teething problems left the crowd waiting up to an hour to get in, with mass confusion as to where ticket holders, guests and even performers had to go to gain admission. Luckily the rain that had been falling on Manchester all day had passed by the opening at 10.30pm, preventing an already miserable situation from becoming worse.

Problems gaining admission to the cavernous warehouse space meant only catching the end of Leeds born MC Skinnyman’s support slot. The UK rapper completed his set freestyling about topics such as war & child abuse – obviously influenced in part by the act he was there to support.

Chuck D may be showing signs of middle age spread & the legendary DJ Terminator X may have taken early retirement, but when Public Enemy hit the stage just after midnight, they showed the crowd why they’ve been members of the Hip Hop establishment for nearly two decades.



Clad in head to toe Adidas, Chuck D took to the stage with all the fury & passion he has always been known for. The band effortlessly melded their intro of classic songs such as 'Welcome to the Terrordome' & 'Bring the Noise' with more recent material like 'Son of a Bush' - a tirade against the current US President - showing that they’ve not lost their political edge. Indeed, many of their songs, such as the classic Black Steel – the story of an African American forced into the US Military - remain just as relevant today as when they were first released.



Flavor Flav, the man Chuck D describes as ‘The greatest hype man in the history of Hip-Hop’ also lived up to reputation. The comical DJ probably best known to many in the UK for his appearance on last year’s celebrity edition of reality TV program ‘The Farm’ strutted and leapt around the stage wearing his trademark giant clock, stopping only once all night to re-tie a shoelace before breaking into an impressive breakdance routine.

The only time the gig became a little flabby was during a prolonged ‘Lets meet the band’ section in the middle of the show, with introductions to the drummer, bassist, guitarist & ‘security’ (two performers who stood on stage all night with swords in hand). While the individuals in the band such as DJ Lord are obviously extremely talented, unfortunately, going through them one by one caused the performance to loose some of its fantastic momentum.


After this, the PE performed a tribute to Hip Hop, with the naming of influential artists of the genre followed by renditions of songs by bands such as the Wu Tang Clan. Flavor also played several songs from his upcoming solo record which got good feedback from the crowd, but weren’t a patch on his classic '911 is a Joke'. The atmosphere soon improved though, with definitive songs such as 'Don’t believe the Hype' & 'Fight The Power' bringing the show to a fantastic finale just before 2am.

FUTURE GIGS

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