Fresh from his triumph at the Brits, where he won Best British Male, Plan B brought his ‘Defamation of Strickland Banks’ show to Brighton. A packed crowd had gathered for the penultimate date of the tour, expectant no doubt to see something of the riotous performance Plan B gave at the end of the Brits award show.
That the man can sing is in no doubt – at times his falsetto makes you call into question the colour of his skin – but whether he can hold an audience for an entire show is more questionable. The problem is he simply lacks the charisma one expects a front man to possess. Dressed in a conservative grey three-piece suit and tie, he looked less like a pop star and more like an office worker. Indeed, there’s a visual similarity between Plan B and David Brent’s Office character. Unlike Brent, Plan B is not big on personality. Beyond the occasional “Hello Brighton” (which we learnt was where his mum came from) and shouts of “Mosh pit!” there was little banter with the crowd.
The show itself would probably have been better suited to a more intimate venue and although a screen projected film of the Strickland Banks character behind him, there was little in the way of ‘theatrics’. Indeed, it was all somewhat subdued. The gloomy lighting didn’t help, neither did the absence of a follow spot. It meant, for the most part, the man himself was really ‘in the darkest place’ he sings about. Rather than recreating the subtle tones of the album, the 5 piece band were raucous, and the sound was fearsomely loud.
The need to pad out the set with a series of soul classics (including ‘My Girl’ and ‘Stand By Me’) as well as a Paulo Nutini cover, also highlighted the lack of original material – a new album is on its way so there’ll soon be more songs to sing. But what Plan B most needs is to find ways of overcoming his lack of stage charisma. That said, the audience went mad for him and he himself told Brighton that this was the best gig of the tour.
Next time though, what we need is a lot less grey and lot more colour! If not, just like John Major’s Spitting Image puppet, Plan B might be forever remembered as the grey man.
Words And Photos By Gary Marlowe
