The Do To Dot festival may have featured the cream of the UK’s alternative scene The Cribs, Kate Nash, New Young Pony Club, etc (and through various other sources (well three!) we can report that they went down an acoustic treat) but my three hour road trip to Nottingham was for one reason, and one reason only; to get my much needed intake of live grime.

Arriving in time to catch the end of the New Young Pony Club’s energetic and over-sweaty set, I positioned myself in brapple-delivering proximity to the Rock City stage in preparation for Kano. The crowd did become more than slightly restless (I saw many a empty plastic pint glass narrowly miss the stage technicians) and eventually Kane followed out his drummer, keyboard player, bass player, guitarist and string quartet (yup that’s how K-A is going on) to the big sounds of new album title track London Town. Kano then took the crowd on a musical journey through time as he played hits from the past (Home Sweet Home), the present (Kano Mixtape) and the future (London Town) in the form of instant grime riot starter Ps & Qs, retrospective anthem Layer Cake and the Kate Nash collabo Me And My Mic, as well as Typical Me, Brown Eyes, F*ckin’ With The Team and Buss It Up. We were also treated to the new sounds of the raw F*ck The Chorus, the reggae riddim If I Was A Rich Boy and the love ditty Girl That I Want before closing the lengthy set with Nite Nite somewhere in the middle of the crowd.

There was then around just over an hour to get some munch in and hop across town to The Social where the Tomb Crew were hosting the Grimewatch room. Rushing over my Food Factory purchase of chicken burger and chips, I then got lost on route to the venue but thanks to some quick over the phone directions from the Tomb Crew’s Nick, located the club and began Kapone Skanking to the grime marathon being spun on the decks. The arrival of Dirty Canvas’ resident DJ Magic and Vice wheel spinner Prancehall alerted the contents of the club to the fact that it was PA time and low and behold Jammer took to the stage with C. Gritz in tow as well as the recently back pon road Chronik. It was a Boy Better Know takeover next as Maximum claimed the decks as his own whilst the Adenuga’s Joseph Junior and Jamie alongside Frisco worked the two cordless mics. Ruff Sqwad’s Slix and Dirty Dangerous got into the fray as Scholar got a little shine time on the decks and the gathered MCs were joined by Jamakabi and Lee Brasco. The energy levels throughout were higher than the oestrogen levels in the new Big Brother house and the up-north revellers lapped up every grimy minute of it. As did I. See you ate next year’s festival.