Brighton is no exception; the Concorde rafters creaked with punters waiting for this headline set at SuperDubPressure. After a somewhat underwhelming set by the warm-ups Shackleton and Slaughter Mob, The Bug upped the stakes with his sonic crew of musicians, engineers and MCs.
They immediately got everyone’s attention dropping Miss Dynamite’s vocals from her 2002 garage banger Dy-nah-mi-tee-hee. This novelty remix seemed out of character for the usually foreboding dubtronica of The Bug, but it’s evidence that he’s not only got a sense of humour but is also willing to experiment live. Soon his idiosyncratic blend of grimy dancehall and hollow, clattering snares snapped into action and lulled the audience into a skanking malaise.
The bottom-end bass of Poison Dart rumbled over the dancefloor of crusty ket-heads and hippy students, rearranging organs and vibrating through exoskeletons to make teeth chatter and bodies bounce. The stage was busy but the number of performers up there didn’t add a great deal to the set. Flowdan’s deep rhythmic vocals over Skeng got the crowd bumping and the Concorde was filled with The Bug’s ragga-tipped ambience for a good hour.
Despite the highlights the set felt like it was over-compensating, with too many bodies on stage swatting what should have been simple bass heavy business.
Words by Zac Colbert