Stereo MC's @ Hoxton Square Bar & Kitchen

Well, what a night spent getting deep, down and dirty in Hoxton with the Stereo MCs.
Yep, they’re still going after all these years and judging by last night’s performance, it’s clear they’re back on form.

You may think there's been a bit of a lull from the Brixton-based band since the days of the Connected album in the early nineties, when they were picking up Brit awards and Mercury nominations left, right and centre. But founding members Rob Birch and Nick Hallam have been steadily remixing, DJing, writing, recording and performing around the globe. And now they’re back with a new album, Double Bubble, released on 28th July.

LMFM joined the MCs at the Hoxton Bar and Kitchen for an intimate and pretty sweaty one-off album launch gig on Thursday. Rob and Nick took to the stage accompanied by the very glamourous backing singers Cath Coffey and Rachel Birch, with Owen If on drums. They may have downsized slightly but don’t appear to have lost any of the sound, with Nick using laptops, mixers and more, and Rob providing intelligent raps and acapella lyricisms between tunes. Cath and Rachel filled out the sound with their huge, soulful voices and the whole package successfully managed to recreate the sound which made the band famous in the early 90s, as well as displaying eclectic, contemporary elements. Tracks from the new album were fresh but retaining the trademark Stereo MC sound. Black Gold is clearly a Double Bubble stand out track but it was the classics – Connected and Step It Up– which really had the crowd interested.

An ideal gig for those who are bored of watching solo DJs play out other people’s tracks, and want something a bit more edgy and lyrical. And also a great band to catch at one of the many festivals they're playing this summer. Impressive performance from the MCs.

Marco Gandolfi