Scroobius
Pip
Manchester, Club Academy
28th February 2012
You all know Scroobius Pip as one half
of Dan Le Sac Vs Scroobius Pip and you will all
have witnessed his word play by now, if you can
relate to the above then you will probably be
aware of his feisty solo album Distraction Pieces
which he’s currently touring. After witnessing
the man spin his yarns live we’ve decided
not to bother reviewing his gig because we don’t
know as many words as him and now we feel illiterate.
Besides the man himself has a song called ‘Death
Of The Journalist’ which declares his much
regarded dislike of the media, obviously, he played
this to the audience of baying wolves and obviously
it was bloody fantastic, so fantastic that we
don’t care that he hates us because we love
his rose swilling, fast talking mouth.
The much loved man starts with album opener ‘Introdiction’
to a frenzied crowd, as he paces the audience
jump, attempt to spit their lyrics like him, and
then settle for raised arms and much stomping.
His whole album is played tonight with a host
of many welcome guests from his stage associates
on guitar and drums to Natasha Fox and American
spoken word maestro B. Dolan who makes himself
known entering the stage with the biggest noose
ever around his neck for a rick rollicking version
of ‘Soldier Boy (Kill Em’) and his
own song, ‘One breath Left’ that was
possibly the best audience participation song
of the night or as Scroobius Pip might have us
believe just a bit lazy, either way the fans were
bouncing in the compact space that is Club Academy.
While everyone loved the music Pip was content
to talk and talk he did, about nothing in particular
it must be said, but still he’s a man to
whom words appear to never fall short. He split
and berated the audience for having moustaches
and not being rowdy, he singled people out to
congratulate them or say happy birthday, or simply
to stare at because he’s Scroobius Pip and
he can do that sort of shit. Every slightly drunken
word that left his mouth had the room in stitches
and slightly drunken they all wore as he necked
rose wine from numerous bottles throughout the
course of the evening; ever the classy fellow.
The great thing about a Pip gig is the slightly
off beat approach that could be perfectly staged,
but feels like off the cuff improvisation at every
turn. He sat down on the low stage to tell us
all about ‘Broken Promises’ and covered
his favourite Kate Bush song ‘Feel It’,
which as an ardent hater of the woman was the
worst point of the evening, but still nothing
to cry about. This wasn’t the only cover
of the evening as he and his friends took to the
stage once more for a prolonged encore and extended
set featuring a bizarrely great cover of Prince
classic ‘Gett Off’. Just as he wanted
everyone who was in that room is now enjoying
the rest of the week as if it was a sexy Saturday
night. If you think about it then it probably
sounds like a terrible idea, but if you let the
sound come in your ears then you’ll wonder
where this cover has been all your life; it certainly
made the gig a more spectacular version of itself.
The crowd went equally mental for just about every
song only slowing down when Pip wanted a breather
himself; possibly to insert another computer chip
filled with a mass of words into his brain from
his eclectic set. The middle front were a unified
wave of people as you might expect, but the rest
of the swaying room got involved for the best
of his set including the old and chant friendly
‘Astronaut’ , ‘Try Dying’,
and the ‘Let ‘Em Come’ in which
the whole room descended into a massive pit in
which participation was entirely necessary.
Scroobius Pip 5/5
Review By Lauren Millineaux
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