AFTER a three year hiatus Public Enemy returns to the fore with their new thirteenth studio album, ‘Man Plans, God Laughs’ and along with it a small handful of UK shows including this unlikely Monday night date in Bournemouth. Significantly this year also marks the 25th anniversary of their seminal socio-political statement and 1990 album, ‘Fear of a Black Planet’.
Sidestepping their usual huge arena shows, the onetime ‘most dangerous band on the planet’ troop onto the stage fashionably late and flanked by their S1W’s (Security of the First World), amidst wailing sirens and fists in the air. Dressed in the familiar full Desert Storm combat fatigues they launch straight into ‘Miuzi Weighs a Ton’ from their 1987 debut, ‘Yo Bum Rush the Show’ and follow this classic by another, ‘Rebel without a Pause’, and then another ‘911 is a Joke’ before introducing the blistering heavy-funk of ‘Welcome to the Terrordome’.
Refusing the slick production of mainstream hip-hop and remaining true to their record scratching and big beat roots, Public Enemy stand defiant, delivering the old skool sound of their eighties heyday, confrontational both in style and delivery. Now well into their fifties, Chuck D and Flavor Flav still have lots to say about war, the world and the recent senseless killings in Paris, Syria and Nigeria as well as the dispossessed and oppressed back home in the USA. Always having been the self styled ‘The Clash of Hip-Hop’ and the outspoken voice of Civil Rights the anger is still clearly burning, although some of the fury has subsided.
Most of the greatest hits are served up early on culminating mid set with the pulverising sound of ‘Bring the Noise’ and ‘Don’t Believe the Hype’ delivered with the force of a battering ram. We are then introduced to a number of newer tracks from more recent albums, ‘Hoover Music’, ‘Black is Back’, ‘Lost In Space Music’ and the title track from the new record, ‘Man Plans, God Laughs’..
After a ten minute record scratching slot from DJ Lord (brought into replace founder member Terminator X) the show is brought to a close by the awesome call to arms, ‘Fight the Power’ and show highlight, ‘Shut ‘Em Down. As well as re-establishing their status as a powerful live act, 2015 also demonstrates that Public Enemy’s message is relevant now probably more than ever before.
Full Set list:
Miuzi Weighs a Ton
Rebel without a Pause
911 is a Joke
Welcome to the Terrordome
Hoovermusic
Black is Back
Lost in Spacz Music
Show ‘em what you got
Bring the Noise
Don’t Believe the Hype
Can’t Truss It
He Got Bass
Black Steel
Man Plans God Laughs
Fight the Power
DJ Lord Mix
31 Flavour/ Shut Em Down/ Harder Than You Think
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