Kano @Astoria: Review

Home Sweet Home-coming.

Astoria was the setting for Kano's long-awaited return to London. Originally scheduled as the final leg of his UK-wide tour back in October, the gig was shut down by the Met amidst rumours of potential violence. This was a frustrating time for all involved, none more than Kano. His anger at the farce was evident from kick off, when he bowled on stage to rapturous noise to declare that it cost him £4k to put on this London show. You can take the boy out the city - but you can't take the city out the boy. He then launched into his anti-police lyrics from Mitchell Bros' 'Routine Check'. Big statement. The prodigal son was back home with a BRaaP!

KA proceeded to rinse through his catalogue, from his breakout 'Boys Love Girls' to his big debut LP. 'Nite Nite' was a crowd pleaser that went on for too long, but the girls dem lapped it up. Particular highlights included tunes from the 'Beats & Bars' mixtape, the angry 'Bust That' and Low Deep's 'Get Set', which saw the entry of the impeccable Ghetto, Demon & Dangermouse to the fray. Ghetto merked it and in the words of the Evening Standard, "threatened to upstage Kano himself". There can be no better compliment. It was satisfying to watch these boys truly shine in front of the media.

As a Kano follower from day, I inevitably found myself going sickest at the garage/grime throwdown. Alongside Ghetto & Demon, they spat their biggest Eskimo-Dance-stopping 16 bars back2back for 15 minutes of high octane basslines. Tinchy Strider's 'Underground'... showerface. The Astoria didn't know what hit it - the show almost struggled to recover its energy!

The show wasn't without its flaws, owing to Klashnekoff's disappointing no-show and the double-booking... with G.A.Y. - of all nights. The strict curfew meant Kane could only play an hour, which led to a slightly ad-hoc show and the omission of 'Signs In Life', the High Contrast mix of 'Reload It' and 'Sometimes'. The crowd was also notably more Hoxton than Hackney, and this was reflected in the atmosphere. There ought to have been more noise for the grime sections and old skool accapellas at the London show. But these are minor tings compared to witnessing Kano & co. finally return home after conquering the UK and the Met. A quality show... back breathing fire.

Follow these links to check what the critics thought: The Independent & The Guardian