NOTWITHSTANDING a disappointingly low turnout at the SECC, Jay-Z handed a lesson in live performance to the likes of Noel Gallagher and the rapper's other pre-Glastonbury detractors.
The support act, Mark Ronson and his revolving carousel of voca
lists, had already shown the value of a meaty complement of strings and horns, rampaging through Wiley's Wearing My Rolex, before applying the Ronson sheen to Stop Me If You Think That You've Heard This One Before and Valerie.
When Jay-Z took the stage with Roc Boys, sporting huge, emotionless "sunnies", he was little bling and all business, demanding "everybody say hello to the bad guy" as Reservoir Dogs played.
These early songs, enlivened by the Jigga's blistering interplay with sidekick Memphis Bleek, set a juggernaut in motion, a boisterously received 99 Problems moving gracefully into AC/DC's Back in Black. Sliding between rock and funk with seamless ease, his hugely accomplished band dazzled with snatches of everything from Amy Winehouse to The Prodigy and A Tribe Called Quest.
For so long dismissible as a studio act and corporate show pony, this was Jay-Z forcefully confounding all slights upon his abilities. The evocation of Public Enemy's Nation Of Millions heralded an unaccompanied lament for the victims of Hurricane Katrina, with the image of President George Bush instigating a chorus of boos – only to be replaced by cheers when the US president rather ridiculously morphed into Barack Obama.
Even now, though, Jay-Z wasn't beyond introducing a little cheesy sleaze to the night. Cannily reconciling a playa's appreciation of the ladies with his status as a recently married man, he offered an abridged version of his wife Beyoncé's Crazy In Love, between his contributions to Estelle's American Boi and Rhianna's Umbrella, lest anybody forget that he retains a firm grip on the commercial pulse.
The full article contains 313 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
