"The one, the only, DJ Shadow..."
Published Monday, July 24, 2006 by Squid of Man | E-mail this post 
Shadow and Lateef doing a live "Lady Don't Tek No", to the accompaniment of me wetting my pants
DJ Shadow, supported by the mighty mighty Mos Def, was a bit surprising on two fronts.
1) Mos Def sucked ass. He just phoned the whole set in, stretching a 25-minute set over an hour's worth of repetition by bellowing "Syd-a-ney Aus-tralia!" a lot. I haven't really heard much Mos Def since Black on Both Sides, because I'd heard his newer stuff was kinda shitty. It probably is going on the strength of last night. Very disappointing.
2) But Shadow...Shadow kicked all kinds of ass. I'd been quietly preparing for disappointment, as his show in November 2002 I caught is still my all-time favourite, and you can only go downhill from perfection. I thought his new album would be weak, and that his impending super-stardom would be starting to take it's toll.
WRONG. Awesome, awesome show. His "greatest hits" medley for the first 30 minutes was fucking spectacular, his new stuff sounds cool and bringing Lateef himself out on stage to do a live version of Lady Don't Tek No? Oh, Christ, my pants could barely take the strain.
Only let-downs were the inexplicable inclusion of some whiney, limey bastard known only as "Chris James" to belt out some very shitty rock/pop tracks, and that it all ended on a bit of an anti-climax.
But no way could that detract from the overall show. DJ Shadow is a god amongst men as far turntablism goes, and this show just confirmed it. Best damn hip-hop show i've seen since...well, since the last time I saw Shadow.
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