Being a diehard metalhead I couldn’t help feeling a bit awkward at a concert and not having any mongoloids around me yelling obscenities out loud before crushing eachother to “War Ensemble”. And that’s why I write this report from the standpoint of a complete laic in the field of Stereo MC’s. Someone might say that’s true about everything I’ve ever written…

But enough about me. The show started right on time. Around 8 PM Leepra DeLuxe took the stage and played in front of the almost full hall (security had been letting people in for a while). The dudes raised up the spirits a bit with their wide ranged music. It was a slow and calm start, but 2 songs into the set they were in upbeat hip-hop with aggressive guitars mode (did someone say “nu-metal”?). And after that was when the well known Naso Ruskov came on stage and took the frontman’s duties the way only he can. As a whole the band delivered a solid performance before Stereo MC’s and really did warm up the public (unlike the last time I saw them – before metal heroes Er Malak).

After a short pause that unfortunately turned out to be too short for me to wait out the queue and reach a well deserved beer, around 9 o’clock the Brits took the stage. They started off with “The Here & Now” from their last album. The two back-vocalists had a really cool stage act – they were constantly marching, spinning and running around in synchronized manner and yet somehow they always managed to get to the microphones right on time to sing their part. Behind the stage was a big display showing various random animated images that added up to the music’s vibe. And on front was the even more well known Rob B, jumping in rhythm with the music.

The unique unity of visuals and music of course didn’t leave the 2-3 thousand strong audience indifferent – people didn’t stop jumping and dancing throughout the whole show. The potato-shaped architecture of “Festivalna” hall once again struck a fatal blow to the hopes of everyone who wanted to hear a clear sound, but that’s something we’re rather used to. Stereo MC’s somehow managed to break through the sound barrier and make people enjoy their setlist dominated mostly by new songs - "Get on It", "Black Gold", "Revolution", "Gringo (Ragged & Ruthless)"... there was hardly a song from the last album that was left out.

Old hits weren’t left out and we did hear “Connected”, “Running”, “Deep Down & Dirty” (by the way the song most brutally slaughtered by the poor sound) and of course “Step it Up” which everyone was singing long after the show: “yeaaaah, yeaaah, yeah….” There was also something like encores, that were completely planned of course. They didn’t even put the lights out. But Rob B kinda explained it himself aswell – this was only the beginning and the party is to continue later in club “Escape”. And although that was sort of unfair to 2500 of the 3000 people that were here for the concert only, I don’t think anyone was offended. The show was inspiring enough not to leave anyone sitting down indifferent and with an unhappy mug. Even if they’d rather listen to Slayer.

Report: Stefan Topuzov