Pete Philly & Perquisite +
Arts the Beatdoctor
Tivoli, U-town
4 October 2007
To give you an idea about how excited I was about Pete Philly and Perquisite coming to Utrecht, I bought my ticket an hour after they went on sale. In February. In the eight long months that followed, I discovered the joys of Arts the Beatdoctor who was fortuitously added as support to complete a dream line up.
This is the first tour for the Arts the Beatdoctor Experiment, and Arts has said that in keeping with the experiment theme, each performance will be different as they react to the crowd to produce the best possible set. So the epic melancholy of tracks like Revolve segued (I’ve always wanted to use that word in a review) into a new, more soulful, number which gave Esther more scope for her powerful voice. The set really took off for the last two numbers when two MCs came on to shake it all up. Their sheer enthusiasm as they bounced across the stage and invaded the crowd, matched with the irresistible hook of The Anthem finally got the crowd moving and gave the band the send off they deserved.
There was no such lethargy on the crowd’s part with Pete and Perq. Since their last tour they’ve added a keyboard player to their already formidable live ensemble of a saxophonist, bassist and DJ. In the middle you’ve got Perquisite directing events with the occasional cello solo and Pete Philly acting as a true master of ceremonies, feeding off the energy of each player to take it up another notch. The set opened with The Third Degree, allowing the band to work a groove up before Pete and Perq emerged to a heroes’ welcome. The new depth of the sound of Mystery Repeats gave the first half of the show a more mellow tip, before GMB came to drop his verse on Balance and speed the tempo up. Cocksure accelerated it further, by beginning normally before mutating into the pumped-up remix from Remindstate, which took the roof off. Things got even better in the encore, when Pete and Perq emerged alone to perform an emotional Mystery Repeats, followed by a truly impressive Clap, Kick, Flow, where Pete laid down his vocal parts one by one before launching into his rap. There was still the small matter of Pete’s freestyle to come, plus the old favourites from Mindstate, like Insomnia, whose bassline alone was enough to send the crowd mad, Q & A off the new album, the guy from Voicst coming on for the outro of Last Love Song, just too many highlights.
Live, Pete and Perq really take it to another level. When Pete drops his line off Womb To Tomb ‘I can see my future, and y’all are in it, having a ball while the DJ revolves it’ it all begins to make sense. This is where Pete and Perq excel – laying it down for a hyped crowd. Now they’ve got the Netherlands on lock, it’s surely time to take it to the rest of the world…