Lil Mariko at Underworld, London
“It’s me: bootleg Rina Sawayama.”
As well-intentioned as this off-the-cuff phrase may have been thrown out to tonight’s crowd, unfortunately, the hyper-pop-inspired artist from the U.S. didn’t even come closer to tethering with the world-renowned megastar. The crass nature of Mariko’s rough-around-the-edges tracks, annihilated by useless on-stage drumming, had the crowd somewhat perplexed by the frenetic chasm built within Camden’s underbelly. At points, the true punk/hardcore scene truly came to the fore with Mariko channelling her inner screamo self, bellowing out random commands of “eat shit” and “blow it” - yet the night’s show became typified by one comment from the singer, “I just burped in the middle of that track.”
5/10
Michael Kiwanuka at Alexandra Palace, London
In spite of the overtly capacious nature of North London’s stoic Alexandra Palace, the long-awaited return of Michael Kiwanuka’s presence to this institution outweighed the former’s anxieties. Having made a significant splash in the waters of neo-soul in 2019 with his self-titled LP, it seemed as though the post-mortem powers of Otis Redding, Al Green and Jimi Hendrix were summoned before us - impressively showcasing clear influence of the latter’s psychedelic-rock concoction. The shortcomings proved bare in Kiwanuka’s sole repertoire, for those tracks sifting out his on-stage entourage when, in reality, the bolstering sounds of the past has marked his strongest and most convincing work to date - even to those revelling at the very back-end-of-beyond in Alexandra Palace.
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