Live Review: C&C Music Factory, DJ Trey

C&C Music Factory was always going to be a (hip) hop, skip and jump down memory lane. And indeed, there were tunes spun tonight that this writer and every white, very inner city, but very aspirationally groovy little listener obviously know all the words to despite having not heard many of them since her cassingles warped in the back of her school bag (or when her walkman ate them). Most of these came via the awesome energy of the local supports, notably DJ Trey, whose liveliness ensured there was little time for a toilet break from 8.30pm until the headliners took over a couple of hours later. Well paced, mixed and with a great sense of the kitsch among the classic, yes there was Salt-N-Pepa next to New Kids On The Block, yes there were one too many baseball caps on stage and, yes, maybe one too many times where 'the party was over here, the party was over there', but it's Saturday night, goddamit.

C&C Music Factory (well, Freedom Williams and some great new additions) started later than expected and with a Michael Jackson mashup/tribute to begin, which was a great idea in terms of the vibe of the room already, but not the best way to go in terms of bar raising. While new singer Alicia was incredible (sadly her last name wasn't given anywhere!), and similar props to the more than capable DJ to support (again, a faceless man, unfortunately), when Williams took the stage, complete with a white “Australia” shirt, ensuring the token local reference, it was the first of many things to make you go…. well, you know. Yes, Things That Make You Go Hmmm… remains as good as it was back when you had it on cassette in 1990, as does Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now) and Do You Wanna Get Funky. But Williams just didn't quite cut it beyond this, with a couple of improvised sections arguably as uncomfortable for him as it was for us (“Did I really just rhyme 'Sydney' with 'kidney'?” he asked, as if going back to look at the car crashed into the pole). Playing for just on an hour and with the strangest of conclusions (“We'll see those with VIP tickets out the back” was it), sadly Williams' headline was far from the shining star of tonight's sounds.