DJ Quik and Suga Free

Watching a DJ who is multi-talented and can perform self written lyrics, play multiple instruments, and DJ is something very rare. The performance that DJ Quik gave was one like I’d never seen before. He opened the set behind decks, and blasted out a couple of remixes, and some of his own mixes, before moving downstage to the mictophone setup.
He picked up the microphone and opened his vocal set with Pitch In on a Party, which had everyone singing along and dancing straight away. The band behind him were tight, and playing his complex riffs with ease and skill. He played several tracks form both The Book of David, and The Midnight Life, which went down really well. In a live performance, it’s easier to discern the lyrics that the artist is singing, especially being as close as I was to the front. For me, this made the concert even more exciting, enabling me to engage with Quik’s material more easily.
The talent that he showcased was incredible, switching from complicated rhythmic vocals, to the synth , and keys, and occasionally revisiting the turn tables. He was also great at getting the audience going and enthusiastic. He was encouraging everyone to sing along, and even held the microphone out occasionally. It was an epic evening, and I’d love to see him again.

The thing that impressed me the most seeing Suga Free live was the way that he interacted with the audience, cracking jokes, encouraging us to join in, and thanking us humbly for our support of his music. His career before he went solo was a hip hop duo with DJ Quick, and it was an awesome surprise to see that Quick was performing with Suga Free when I saw him recently. Their chemistry is great, and the way that they were bouncing their energy off of each other made us all in the crowd really energised and ready to dance.
He opened with the title track from his new album The Resurrection which is a great collection of charismatic lyrics, with a conversational style to the delivery. It was exciting to hear it performed live as it’s only just been released, and the audience were going mad for it. Free took time to teach us little hooks and tags from the songs, and shouted out lines of lyrics for everyone to repeat. It was really cool to get involved to that extent, and the way that we were all dancing around seemed to give them both more energy in their performance, as they played for over 2 hours, and maintained their energy throughout the show.
They played from some of their collaborations, as well as Free having Quick support him on tracks from Hi Power Pimpin, and Sunday School, as well as the new album. They played a couple of covers and remixes too which had the audience singing along and loving the atmosphere. It was an amazing set!