Plan B @Mean Fiddler

Something changed Friday night. In a packed and sweltering Mean Fiddler, perhaps the most exciting talent in British music came of age... and it felt like the bar had been raised. After groundbreaking contributions from Ms Dynamite, Roots Manuva and Dizzee Rascal to what British MCing can achieve, now comes Ben Drew - Plan B.

Spitting venomous, close-to-the-bone lyrics between silky vocals, he paints pictures of the dark underside of London. Stabbings, shootings, crackheads and under-age pregnancies all get a lick off Plan Bizzle's vicious, yet eloquent, tongue. All the while playing his acoustic guitar switching between pensive fingerpicking to angry thrashing. Pushing the boundaries of what it means be an emcee, this boy is thinking seriously out the box.

Arriving just in time to catch his opening tune, the Mean Fiddler was dripping with both sweat and anticipation. This was the homecoming on his first headlining tour. Plan B had his swagger on, exuding the confidence of a 22 year old riding the crest of a wave. Since seeing him in several (shyer) early performances, the media has been buzzing from his debut release, 'Who Needs Actions When You Got Words'. He dropped 'Kidz' as his second tune, telling the story of a murderous 14 year old inspired by Damilola Taylor. Blinding tune, and even more poignant live.

Plan Bizzle is often accompanied by just his guitar and a drummer. Given his Hip Hop and Grime background, its always satisfying to see emcees work the live elements with his band... beyond genre-defining decks and samples. He proceeded to play through his bleak but melodic LP (killing it on 'Charmaine'/'Dead & Buried') - with a snarling interlude where he vented about pills, triple-dropping and sacking his drug-fuelled manager. It was a startling display of his raw 'fuck what they think' attitude.

Unfortunately the one album show kept the gig short, but finished with a heavyweight encore. In my idealistic mind encores should be about big tunes and doing something special. Plan B ticked both boxes, playing 'No Good' followed by a refix of Roots Manuva's huge 'Witness'. Its not easy capturing the driving bassline of that anthem, but the band smacked it. He then closed out with a rock tune that collided with double-time spitting. The tightness of his flow to the imposing beat throughout the tune was impeccable. A chorus of braps was an apt way to shutdown an impressive show.