Saturday night Erykah Badu had left me in an state of ecstactic numbness which was still present Sunday afternoon. After kicking off the day with a smash hit of a Malk De Koijn-concert, I felt like nothing could spoil my positive mood. The crazy antics of the legendary JA toaster Eek-A-Mouse seemed like the perfect way to mellow out. Upon arrival, I found the ballroom tent to be surprisingly packed. Perhaps this was due to the many people who had waited in vain for tickets to his concert at Loppen 6 months ago. The massive turn-out didn’t faze me though, and resting my hungover bones outside the tent with a joint was fine by me. After a warm-up tune by the band, Eek-A-Mouse himself came onstage, a towering 198 cm tall, wearing a cowboy hat, tight pants with a bulge between the legs and a tank top full o’ muscles. Compared to the orange Dolomite-suit he donned at Loppen, this was definetely a no-frills outfit.

From where I was sitting, the sound was nice and crisp, with plenty of bass. The band was tight, following the tradition of dope JA musicians. The Roots Radics-style riddims of “Wa-Do-Dem”, “Ganja Smuggling”, and all the other Eek-A-Hits, were then served to the audience like pork links. While I was puffing on a cloud, his trademark “beng-beng-biddy-beng-beng” began to reverberate trough my skull like feedback from an echo chamber. Easily audible lyrics are often a problem with word-heavy vocal genres like rap and toasting, but Eek-A-Mouse is a learning example for all emcees. He definetely has the superior mic control you would expect from a man who does 150-200 shows a year.
Occasionally he passed the microphone to his little son whom he had brought onstage with him, scoring easy points from the crowd. It was cute at first, but the gimmick started to wear thin after a while. It’s cool to keep it a family affair, but dragging your kids on stage still seems like a bit of a cheap trick. Catering a lot to the swedish part of the crowd with chants like “Sweeeden with all the good weed-en” also got him instant cheers. This came as no surprise, considering that around 50% of the audience at the Roskilde Festival are from our brethren country. His emphasis on Sweden reminds you of the fact that reggae music gets a lot more respect over there. In Denmark it is always written off as being a curiosity that died with Bob Marley. Come on, Denmark!

After the main part of the concert, he jumped onstage for an additional three songs, and then again for another one. As time went on, the usual call-and response routine, “Do you want the mouse to go away/no, no, no, no, no”, didn’t quite muster the effect it was supposed to. The concentration of the audience was apparently beginning to deteriorate. Unfortunately, he waited too long to reappear for the final encore, and many had then moved on to whatever. Too bad, but it’s hard to compete with a shitload of other concerts going on elsewhere on the festival grounds. All in all, it was pretty much the same performance as on december 8th. I heard some people say that they found his cartoonish vocal style too corny and outdated. This is all I have to say to those non-believers: light another spliff, ya rasclot. Bo!

Fotos af Heinecke © RapSpot.dk

Simmer down Sunday Eek-A-Mouse @ The Ballroom Tent, Roskilde Festival, June 30th, 2002
performance:	Nothing groundbreaking, just a top-notch vocalist and band.	OnPoint faktor: Like having an dear, old friend over for dinner.
underholdningsværdi:	Perfect for my frame of mind. Stoned to the bone.
spillested:	Where else? Ballroom rocks the “ethnic” shit.
stemning:	A somewhat unfocused crowd, but still nuff irie vibes.
street cred.:	Street cred: World music hippies, drunk punks and b-boys with a hangover.	set af: Martin Dejean

sådan læser du karaktergivning: 7 x = On Point!3 x = Nice Shot

6 x = Almost Bulls Eye 2 x = Target Practice

5 x = Heavy Hitter1 x = Not Even Close

4 x = Hit Potential1 x = Greatest Miss

Skrevet af m_dejean 30.06.2002 arkiveret under LiveSpot |