Since appearing on the front cover of June’s SOURCE magazine, Rizzle Kicks have gone from strength to strength. With celebrity fans such as James Corden and Olly Murs and a memorable performance at the Brits, the last nine months have been somewhat successful for the Brighton based duo.
Their inimitable brand of feel good hip-pop has seen an incredibly successful tour which culminated in a two night homecoming gig at Concorde2. The queues at the door before opening and a feature on BBC South Today was testament to how far they have come in such a short period of time.
Inside the venue, the fresh faced crowd were clearly in an excitable mood and ready for a lively evening. They were not disappointed. The boys, Jordan and Harley, came out bouncing as to what can only be described as one of the funkiest renditions of the Inspector Gadget theme tune you will ever hear.
This set the tone for the whole evening; if they weren’t cartwheeling, they were play fighting with each other or messing around with the backing band. Covers of similarly successful peer Ed Sheeran and his anti-pop industry “You Need Me, I Don’t Need You”, the theme to James Bond and “When I Was A Youngster” kept the crowd jumping and singing along like they had just downed a bottle of Panda Pops.
The boys sense of having fun and not taking themselves too seriously was epitomised when they got Jordan’s mum on stage to help with the infamous ‘Hump’ dance of the George Michael sampled, Fatboy Slim produced “Mama Do The Hump”. If ever you needed musical endorsement then it doesn’t get much better than having Brighton royalty Fatboy Slim produce a track for you.
This was a big night for Rizzle Kicks, a time to show their home town what they have achieved over the last year and a chance to prove how they have become stand-out performers in a sea of chart mediocrity.
Not only did they do this but they gained a few more fans in the process. The parents at the back, waiting for their kids could surely not have avoided the infectiousness of their energy and charisma.
Concorde2, Tuesday 13th March 2012
Words by Charlie Haywood
Photos by Mike Burnell