NEWS : Online Review: Example, Wretch 32 & Yasmin @ iTunes Festival

Written by Tego Sigel on 28 Jul 2011

One of the best lineups at the iTunes Festival this year; Cerriann Taylor caught label-mates Example, Wretch 32 and Yasmin at a packed Roundhouse.

Here we are again, stunned by the awesome, breathtaking venue- which is now beginning to feel a bit like home! The crowds came in their masses to witness what some would call, a rather Urban burst of Pop-fodder for the evening at the Roundhouse in Camden.

Come 7.15PM, Yasmin burst on to stage with a musical band full of attitude and a whole loada swagger; sporting 3/4 length baggy denims, matched with cork platform heels, teamed with a pink sparkly crop-top. Opening her set the only way a woman of her status can, On My Own got people bounding to the popular top 40 hit- quite an achievement in itself some would say!

“I need ya’ll to make some noise- this is bein’ streamed to 23 countries all over the world”, her Glaswegian accent pounded off the walls, and straight into her second track; the first of the album samplers, Told you So. Although we could barely hear Yasmin’s delicate vocal above the mix of the bass and the drums, she pleased the crowd even more when her band dropped in a reggae beat, got her J-Lo ‘hat’ out and sang “ay ay ay” even doing a little whine! Gwaan Yas’!

Dedicated fans will know of her work with the ‘Dubfantastic Raver’ Shy FX and Light Up The World is a tune you could probably skank to at a Friday night rave anywhere in the UK. Receiving outstanding ‘arm in the air action’ from the audience, even getting them to sing the hook with her- did we mention this was the first time she performed this song?

Much props to the Band who held their own and didn’t Runaway at any point during the gig- EVEN when she slipped into Kayne mode! The Trip-pop star who barely broke a sweat throughout, then delighted us with yet another exclusive song No Good For Me. We weren’t too sure about this one as it samples the Kelly Charles hit from way back in 1987 before being used again by The Prodigy in 1994, and then yet again in 2001 by Oxide and Neutrino. Maybe it’s just been done? The popular beat still had the audience clapping, even if we could imagine Lisa Maffia cringing from afar.

Last but not least was the Top 20 banger, Finish Line, where we can officially confirm Yasmin’s favourite lyric is “Yeah Yeah Yeah” and the people definitely love it- Thumbs up girl!

After a quick nip for some fresh air, we hurried back to our seats in time for the countdown for Wretchroboy, aka Wretch 32, aka, soon to be music legend- can we say that?

Beginning with his spaceboy fly sounding Be Cool- long time fans will remember his high top from the video- sounding a lot ‘rock-ier’ than usual with all that guitar going on. Whilst getting over Wretch bouncing around like his own non existent hype man, and the strobe lighting dazzling us, we noticed that he had TWO drummers on stage. Yes two! One electric, one acoustic. That’s how man is rolling. The audience were ALREADY excited and this was the first chorus of the first song, at 8.16PM!

A few ‘ahh yeahs’ later and we’d commonly accepted that no matter how much we tried to be cool and just slightly dance, we would probably have to jump up and down in order to see over the person in front of us; Unorthodox it was. At this point we overheard a rather out of breath young chap shout, “everyone’s bouncing, he looks so happy- must be such a buzz!”. A buzz indeed, as the Tottenham singer took off his Glasses and Jacket for the next lot of beats. “Is it OK if I rap for you?” and before you can say Jigga, Jay-Z’s 99 Problems was being cleverly covered by the 26 year old, sneaking a few Slash guitar riffs in there too. Next, we got into something he described as ‘grown and sexy’, a slow jam to soften the tempo a bit. Falling In Love Again features Alex Mills and we hope it makes it onto our August cover-star’s album Black and White.

Describing his latest releases as being written for the fans, Don’t Go is beautifully structured and accompanied well by a lead guitar and Josh Kumra, who looks set to a become a young star himself. As Wretch proceeded to tell us where we can buy his single (erm..?), we wondered whether that was good old label mate Yasmin popping up again in the background singing he famous ‘yeah yeah yeah’s’…hmmm…

It wouldn’t be a full performance without his recent cover of Adele’s, Someone Like You, originally put together for Radio 1. But before we started crying and calling our mums, we were treated to one last banger in the form of Traktor- a filthy beat which always involves some front row crowd surfing/running/holding hands/not sure what you call it- Wretch got right in there and showed his appreciation, much to the delight of the screaming competition winners.

Unusually tonight there were three acts performing, and after a quick shuffle around we were ready for the next. Unsure of how much background noise involving Ke$ha and Pitbull we could take, we looked around for distractions only to see Yasmin had changed into a long black ensemble and taken her seat a few rows away from us, just in time for our Headliner. *screams*.

By the time Example landed, the place was booming, possibly at full capacity, the fans were going wild with everyone on their feet, bouncing to the bass. If you listened to BBC 1Xtra last weekend you would’ve heard him counting down his favourite 20 tracks from other influential artists and no doubt this man carries and bag of steel when it comes to knowing his music and how to get the best out of an audience. “Wheres all my crazy people at” he shouts, whilst delivering some of his older album tracks- which he didn’t take many breaths in between. Dirty Face from the 2010 album Won’t Go Quietly in particular was a smash that should have definitely recieved some chart ratings, as a mini mosh pit began to form, demonstrating that Example is extremely underrated for his incredibly tight flow and lyrical ability as an artist.

After thanking everyone for taking the time to apply for free tickets, the Hammersmith born, Wu-Tang lover brought our attention to the VIP area, telling us to “make some noise for them up there” as they are stuck behind the speakers… aww bless… how caring!

Last One Standing and From Space drew a similar reaction to the hustle and bustle inside the venue and Freedom Fighters even got me thinking about calling in sick for work today.

Shot Yourself In The Foot Again, a production by Skream also went down a wobbly treat as yet another strobe light performance beckoned. So, “we came, we saw, we killed the crowd“-quite literally with a now raging mosh pit- Example began to forget where he was, and blurted out “How we doing Ibiza?”… (erm?)- perhaps The Roundhouse became so sweaty that the trance-pop vibes started to cause him some confusion. Never the less he started with a Kick and ended with a mind blowing Changed The Way You Kiss Me as the festival fans sang loudly above the music- that’s quite hard to do indoors actually. Not sure if he’s ever had it so sweet.

The Summary