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There was a definite buzz in the air, cutting through the icy winds of outside. The night was warmed up by Dema & Mr Nice of The Freak Menoovers. These cheeky pair of chappies hail from Glasgow and run their own night Freak Show (also in the Art School), which plays all the tunes you wanna hear, from both the UK and the US and were a perfect choice to warm up the cockles of the incoming punters. The club, which is more of a concert venue upstairs, housed a huge stage and crowd area which was quickly filling up. Initial concerns that people may not come out to brave the cold were dismissed when reports came in that the tickets for the gig were very near to sell out, where as some outlets had indeed sold out. The bar area was particularly busy as was the entrance and the stairway which was strictly a single file passage by way of the amount of people churning around. The queue outside had got beyond a joke where as Riz, your Roving reporter, was enjoying a confab with Blade at the foot of the stairs thus adding to the congestion. As the Art School reached capacity the crowd noise increased. There was movement on the stage when a star-studded cast of Hip Hop headz from both sides of the borders sent the crowd into orbit. With Mark B laying up the intro track, Eastborn appeared on stage. Eastborn, a local to Glasgow and a recognised face to the Glasgow Hip Hop fraternity, hyped up the crowd in a way only he could. In true Christmas style Eastborn spread seasons greetings to all and sent the crowd into the first roar of the night to show appreciation for the skills of DJ Plus One who had been tirelessly spinning away tracks before his arrival. To continue the Christmas theme Eastborn called on the crowd to make noise for the nights Santa Clause, in the form of Blade, saying he would not come on if they didn’t shout louder. Then with an euphoric cheer in the air Blade careered onto the stage followed by hopping mad Defesis. The crowd were by now right up for it! This was shown by the energy shared between the crowd and performers. Blade started of his campaign as he had finished it last time in Glasgow, arms in the air, back to the audience, check your “Lion goes from strength to strength” album. Defesis, who had a broken ankle, hopped around the stage like a tormented pogo stick, which supplied him with shouts of approval from the amassed crowds as he plonked his arse down on the top of a speaker. Blade was going through “The Unknown”, with a crowd that mouthed every word back to him, highlighting the bond he has created with his followers … and they must be increasing by every Lucozade locked performance. When it came to “Split Personalities” again Blade supplied the goodies by bringing Eastborn out again to an exhilarated crowd to fill in the blanks. Ironically enough Eastborn’s first EP is entitled “Split Loyalties”, but there was no split loyalties between anyone this night as each side of the crowd rocked to Eastborn’s directions. Mayhem then began with stage dives and stage invasions… all greeted by Blade, but not so much by the security. The Breakers were finding it increasingly difficult to find space to break on the stage as more and more people clambered onto the stage, then Blade joined in on the stage diving and later to everyone’s surprise … so did Mark B! In between all the fracas the crowd were shown exactly why Plus One is considered one of the worlds best Dee Jays. Then joined by Dynamic Duo partner DJ Extra, it was at this point now that everyone was aware that they were seeing the best Hip Hop night in Glasgow for years! Blade could not stop handing out prezies to the demanding crowd. Copies of the album were given out to a sea of hands, but his best present was still to be unwrapped. “Survival of the Hardest Working” bellowed out from the monitors and Glasgow City lost control… The rest, as they say, is history, left to the pages of time. The Blade and Mark B entourage emerged round the stage, on the stage, the back of the stage, it was said they had security guards under the stage, well slight exaggeration but you get the point. In the words of TY “…mighty fun was had by all!” The question is though, Will Glasgow ever see another night like that? And if so, who will it be? Furthermore, when it does go down … Who’s gonna survive to tell the story? Survival of the Hardest Working? Not half!
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