Metal Face Doom? Exactly.
The air has a distinctive perfume that is entwined like ivy along the branch of hip hop, and the crowd form one huge organism that ripples to the lazy beat. Jneiro Jarel (aka Dr Who Dat of Shape Of Broad Minds) hollars lyrics of other worlds over sounds from another planet, and the crowd collectively inhale, ready to go on a journey of their own.
DOOM (“all caps when you spell the man’s name”) arrives on stage swathed in netted camouflage gear that can’t hide his instantly recognisable silver mask glowing under intermittent spotlight hits. He opens with numbers from his magnum opus, 'Madvillainy', to the joy of the crowd. Darting from one side of the stage to the other like a terrier chasing passers by behind a garden fence, he barks the words with much gusto whilst still maintaining his distinctive style of flow. ‘America’s Most Blunted’ sets the huge organism jumping in unison.
He rolls out ‘Hoe Cakes’ from Mm..Food and gets shouts back for the “Super!” at the end of each line. In fact, parts of the show resemble a stadium sing-along with many joining in with his every word. With a back catalogue of huge proportions and countless bootleg albums available, he has a lot of ground to cover in under an hour. He touches on 'Operation: DOOMsday' (‘Go With The Flow’), 'Take Me To Your Leader' (‘Fazers’ as King Geedorah) and previous album, 'Born Like This' (‘Ballskin’). There is no new solo material but hey, playing his strongest tracks is fine by us.
A slight overrun by DOOM means Ghostface comes on late. Without doubt the people are here for the Wu-Tang material and he’s happy to oblige by playing most of the legendary ‘36 Chambers’ album amongst others. He is a powerful presence on stage and his militant and excitable flow keeps the energy high through his solo work, as well as GZA’s ‘4th Chamber’. Of course, the place goes psycho like Norman Bates for ODB’s ‘Shimmy Shimmy Ya’.
He demands that the mics are turned up which hits the soundsystem hard and some of the speakers blow. Well, tonight's rawness had to take its toll eventually. Amy Winehouse’s ‘You Know I’m No Good’ is played, presumably as a tribute to her as we’re in Camden, yet for some reason he chooses not to rhyme over it as he does on the ‘More Fish’ version and merely plays the original.
Time creeps to the 11pm close and Ghostface remarks he is instructed to leave the stage but refuses. One more track for luck before promises of the collaboration being released soon, and then he's off. Confusion arises as DOOM is planned to return to the stage for the anticipated new DOOM/Starks material. Whether their solo performances overran or the verses battle was noted incorrectly on the line-up is unclear, but with a hair’s breadth under an hour from these monumental pillars of hip hop we consider ourselves blessed.
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