YASIIN BEY/MOS DEF AT THE FORUM, LONDON

Hey Semtex, I travelled all the way from yorkshire, 5 hours on a coach in the blazing sun to see the mighty mos def! I love and respect Mos Def/Yasiin Bey. The show was advertised saying he will be playing live and showcasing his hits from the last 13 years.

So I wasn’t expecting him to do hit after hit, classic after classic, but it would have been a better show if he threw in panties or beggar or miss fat booty. Just one of them woulda stopped people from booing (I did not boo by the way)

I love seeing artists grow, I’m sure I’ll love his new album. But the dude was late man.

He graced us with his presence for about 40 minutes! Pretty sure he only did 6 songs! Padded out with dancing and performing one track twice! He was so late he didn’t have time to sound check and some people in the crowd could not hear him.

He did a lot of dancing, not complaining, never knew he could move like that. It was cute. The 40 minutes he graced us with were fine, I enjoyed it, but had he started on time, he would have been able to throw in some of his classics.

The show ended too quickly and too abruptly, no encore, no apology for his lateness, no explanation? That’s not being an artist, that’s being a diva. I just didn’t expect that of mos def.

I’m not hating, I’m just airing my disappointment. Because if mos def went into all his gigs with that attitude, he would not be where he is now.

He said he’s not here to entertain or perform for us, I just wish he told us that in the promotion for the show, as then I would not have gone. But the promos all said, performing his classics from the last 13 years.

So I think that’s why people are peeved. False advertising and a diva attitude.

I agree with the above…

In short this was an embarrassing performance by a disgruntled artist more interested in appeasing himself then a willing audience… and it could have all been so different.

The crowd was already 10 deep by the time I got to the floor around 7:30, and the buzz was electric. BBoys and backpackers were trading verses with rude boys and the girls were eagerly holding their ground. DJ Semtex was on the decks and doing a good job at building the atmosphere but as already highlighted the sound was awful, not just the clarity but the set up itself (the right side speakers kept cutting out). The warm up artist (Mic Righteous) ran through a conscious set of 5 or so tracks at ballistic pace with good delivery and the crowd were with him the whole way. Unfortunately it gave us a taste of what was to come in terms of live vocals from the speakers… mumbles and distortion.

Semtex came back on to keep the crowd going this time with a more old school vibe and a lot of bangers, you could half imagine fellow BBC radio resident Westwood thumping the “big tune” sample pad along with him. But by 9:30 the enthusiasm of the swarming crowd was waning and there was little that could be done to settle the audience. Semtex began to shout out regular updates, “he’s in the taxi”, “he’s on his way”, “he’s outside”, “he’s in the building” and so on, this only fanned the flames of discontent further and by 10:00 the crowd were booing and chanting in an attempt to force Yasiin to the stage. He eventually gave in around 10:10 swaggering onto the stage with a controlled and reluctant pace with no attempt to hide his annoyance at being forced on. His set was unusual only performing a handful of his more popular songs none of which I would say were his best save Umi Says. He performed some newer material including a cover and boogied along to a Dilla track for a couple of minutes. He also paused the set to repeat the same verse of a track 3 times over, once as the original recording (an actual recording which he danced along to), once accapella and then combined the two. Although I was keen to hear more of his better tracks from across his career this would have all been passable had he not have been so rude. He peppered his set with the question “are you not entertained?”, not in playful jest but with biting sarcasm akin to Maximus’ disgust at the audience in Gladiator, this was often followed by a mumble with his back to the crowd. His statements on the nature of his performance and other performers only served to confirm his disdain for a packed theatre of interested and passionate fans. He wasn’t placing himself outside the description of an entertainer but berating the crowd for getting him on stage I their time, not his. After 50 minutes the deejay played “lifetime” and Yasiin left the stage not to return. 5 minutes later the lights went up and the runners cleared the stage. A very disappointing end to an awful performance where Semtex performed for what must have been 2 hours and the main artist performed (I use this word very loosely) for just 50 minutes.

The shame is that I saw Mos Def last year with Talib for the Black Star gig at the Appollo. There Mos dominated the stage oozing charisma and confidence throughout the set, overshadowing Talib and wooing the crowd into a frenzy. They came back to the stage for a multi-track encore too, this in stark contrast to his lacklustre attendance on Saturday.

Yasiin is a very talented musician and this experience will not dent my view of his music, I just would not pay to see him again, nor recommend someone else to either…

Hey Semtex, thanks for revising your original blog and no longer blaming the fans for what went down on Saturday. I think you can see from the above comments, we attended a mos def gig because we are real music lovers who do admire artists and artistry and evolving creative people. Sadly Yasiin Bey does not appreciate that, I want Mos Def back!