^Well, you knew the review was coming, and after I needed a day needed for recovery, here it is.
Before I get into the meat and potatoes, FYI NEW TOURDATES ADDED! For those who couldn't make it for whatever reason, check the first post for updated tour dates! If you are going, make it happen right away, it's sold out in a lot of places!
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So how was it??
In a word (besides the obvious word DOPE) it was historical.
I went to the Minneapolis show on 9-24 at the Skyway. Show started at 8PM (with crappy openers, a DJ who played DJ Shadow songs, ummm... And some hippy jam band who were ok but oddly out of place at the venue) Shadow and Cut walked onto the stage a little after 10PM.
6 turntables manned by the 2 DJs stood in front of them. 4 flight cases of Bambattaa's beat up records stood at arms length, 2 for each DJ. A old school city scene enveloped the DJ table on all four sides.
After a short intro of what was about to happen (we obviously knew at that point the premise of playing Bambaataa's records but they spelled out the jist of their selection flow) and how much of an honor it was to them and how excited they were to have the opportunity. And just like that, the part DJ show, part history lesson began as they started out their set just as Afrika would have in his early years of DJing, pre-old school Hip Hop.
First came the late 70s latin, soca and calypso. An eclectic section to say the least, with smatterings of recognizable samples played throughout. They were doing an Afrika timeline, and they were starting with the beat up good stuff.
Gradually they began to work in James Brown, JBs and other 70s soul and funk, again with emphasis on the breaks and samples. With each passing moment the set started to get less obscure sounding and more recognizable. In no time at all they were into the 80s pop and funk and old NYC dance music. Chic - Good Times, Zapp - More Bounce, etc. As they went thru the various periods Ben Stoke's video show behind them flashed through each record. All the crate diggers drooled as the labels flipped past on the big screen. They took the time to manipulate each break and sample in both a traditional way and a reinvented flare method flawlessly juggling and blending the breaks together.
As they moved into the Old School Era the imagery changed as well to reflect the set. Soon labels of Marvin Gaye on the big screen were replaced by Old School Hip Hop singles. Ones that only Bambaattaa himself had access to. Again, watching the records in the film as they played enhanced the show. So many records were crossed off so you knew this was the real deal. They had a few synchronized juggling and scratching routines which were error free. I don't know how long they practiced these synchronized sets but you could see them counting out loud as their hands stopped and started in perfect sync. Shivers down the spine type moment when 4 copies of Good Times got juggled between the 2 of them.
Then they shifted into the Bambaataa as producer segment. They layered on the tracks like Kraftwerk's - Trans Europe Express that the man himself did, to recreate "Planet Rock" live (if you can even imagine such a thing), and to recreate the elements of "Looking for the Perfect Beat."
Watch this 1min long (Bad audio since I was right in the front, but you get the jist of it) snippet of 2 parts of the show, one of them was when they were starting to build into Planet Rock...
As if that wasn't enough, then they busted out the ACETATE TEST PRESS DEMO VERSION of "Looking for the Perfect Beat" Keep in mind for moments when one might not realize what was going on they nararated the highlights.
"Everyone listen to this! This is the ONLY KNOWN copy of the Demo of Looking for the Perfect beat!" Cut Chemist shouted with a huge grin on his face.
I gotta say, the demo is very different, much slower, harder and extremely dope. That acetate would fetch a grand easily on Ebay, if it dropped to the floor it would shatter into a million pieces and Bambaataa lent it to them without hesitation. They certainly weren't juggling that record, they treated it like a baby.
Then with a brief stint of Dub and Dancehall music, the likes I've never heard, they quickly went back into the NYC Old School Hip Hop\Mid School joints. They recreated MC Shan's - The Bridge using the original horn stab while the audience screamed and gawked. They continued down this Hip Hop road for most of the remainder of the show as that was their primary focus.
Then came another highlight... Whilst playing Bozo Meco - Grand Master Flash - Flash it To the Beat...
(pause for drama)
...Cut Chemist grabbed THEE ACTUAL 1967 Vox Percussion King box that Flash HIMSELF used to make that song and recreated it in front of us!!
So it went from Flash it to the Beat into Cut Chemist's version of the same beat, and if that wasn't enough to freak everyone out who was freaking out, DJ Shadow was cutting over it, stopped to grab a later period drum machine, picked up some drum sticks and started drumming in time with CC. This was some serious old school meets new school shit happening right here and just as quickly as it started it ended while they both jumped back on the decks without missing a beat.
Both gents were flawless on their scratch breakdown routines, but I gotta give the edge to Cut Chemist on this show he was absolutely killing it on the cuts.
The remainder of the performance became a frenzy of music and motion as Cut Chemist requested a B-Boy circle open up on the floor. As the floor spread open various B-Boys battled it out as DJ Shadow and Cut played on and smiled at the best dancers.
I don't wanna give away all the surprises so I'll leave it there and end with this summary...
OVERALL: This show was a solid 9/10. No mistakes whatsoever, perfectly executed, highly educational and highly entertaining. It could have been a 10/10 experience had it not been for the wack opening DJ and mediocre Hippy Jam band not to mention a horrible novice MC in the crowd right behind me who freestyled rap over a lot of it. I didn't pay 35 bucks to hear him blunder through too late chosen adjectives so I just moved away from the guy.
I've seen Shadow before, and that show was great but this was basically perfect. I had either a grin or a wide open jaw throughout the whole show and me and my friends who were all present agreed it was the best DJ show we've ever been to. My expectations were high and they were easily surpassed by the reality of how great of a show this was.
DJ Shadow fans SHOULD BEND OVER BACKWARDS to make this show. ALL Hip Hop fans should do as much as they can do to make it, if not for the education then for the execution of some of the realist shit you've ever seen spun.
At the very end I was in prime territory to get my much needed and prepared for autograph. There was a huge metal fence separating the crowd from DJ Shadow and CC, but where there is a will, there is an autograph. They weren't signing autographs for anyone, but I was the guy who had the Sharpie and The Product Placement CD insert and a long arm extended out towards the DJs, they smiled, thanked me for coming and I snagged both of their signatures as they hand slapped a few other fans just trying to get a handshake.
TIP: When you gotta get a signature, make it easy for them. Have the pen and proper release to sign ready to go. Don't bother bringing in records, they are too big and they would have gotten smashed by bodies, bring something portable like a CD insert.
After I got my sigs, me and my friends were really high, drunk, happy and too amped to turn in even though it was late. We stayed out as late as we could and headed back. I got back home and into bed by 4AM.
I'm never going to forget this show. I'm definitely going to buy the upcoming book and you can bet your ass I'm going to buy the mix CD as well. They better drop a mix CD, I'm assuming it's in the works.
BB, I don't know about an upcoming Michigan show, (Lions still suck!)
...but deathhop there's a substantiated rumor going around that they will be doing a overseas tour so I am guessing they'll hit somewhere in the UK and Europe in early 2015. I'm glad to hear it, worldwide HH heads need to experience this.
BTW, kind of unrelated but not really....
Fatbeats has this preorder record > DJ Shadow & Cut Chemist/Jimmy Jim - Zulu Rainin' Hell Mix 12" posted on page one right now. Looks like Cut and Shadow got so deep in the crates that they procured the rights to reissue some of their tour wax. I can't say I'm not curious about that record.
