Ghostpoet // NS&V - NAC, 11.10.13

Ghostpoet is, all things considered, probably as urban as Norwich’s music scene could get without seeming a bit farcical. Our twee old city might be perfect for poetry and spoken word, but it’s less so for hip hop, and so any collection of predominantly white middle class youths throwing their guns up at a Norwich venue, let alone a consecrated one, is always going to seem a bit odd. And indeed, Norwich’s populous proved they weren’t cut out for the rap game before it even began. Complaints about Ghostpoet’s lateness came in their droves; he was an hour late, but it wasn’t even because of the usual acts of self-aggrandised posturing, so there was no need for anyone to publicly demand a refund even if they ‘had to get the train back home before he came on’. And of course, when he did eventually make it on stage, the show was made so much better for it. There was a sense of urgency from the performers, and a sense of demand from the audience; two feelings that might not have been as present without the tantalising delay. Not too quickly, but certainly with any mid-song chatter distinctly curtailed, Obaro drawled through his opening numbers, rousing the crowd from casual nods to a fervish rabble during the raucous outro to ‘Cold Win’. The gig waxed and waned a little, with some less known newer material going spare, but Obaro’s persistent ringmastery kept energy at a consistent buzz. The crowd’s ensemble chant of “I heard it in a TV programme” on ‘Run, Run, Run’ was unexpected, but raw, and heralded a welcome string of hits, from the chiming female vocals on ‘Survive It’ through to the emphatically repetitive ‘Liiines’. The extenuating circumstances meant Ghospoet had to cut down their set, omitting a few songs to finish on time despite the Arts Centre’s new midnight curfew, but Obaro insisted that he’d “play more next time”, and whether naively or not, we believed him. Closing with ‘Cash and Carry Me Home’, Obaro’s ode to overdoing it, was predictable but no less moving. In the end, the technical delays were the unexpected catalyst for one of the most electric performances I’ve seen in recent times - allowing the normally urbane Obaro to fully channel his inner rap star and delight the crowd and himself in equal measure.