Chase & Status, Kentish Town Forum

The prospect of live drum & bass is an unusual one based on the high energy nature of the sound being difficult to replicate live. Pendulum, for all their faults, put on a wildly entertaining show - though it can be argued their music has morphed into a stylistic hybrid not reminiscent of their first album’s wholly-classifiable sound. The notion of a Chase & Status live show holds extra intrigue - releasing their first album on RAM Records (run by god of the genre Andy C), ‘More Than A Lot’ was widely lauded for managing to create an accessible sound that would still be respected and enjoyed by purists. The reputation that preceded them must have been daunting when considering the logistics of a live show - after all, the past few years have seen them go from relative obscurity to producing a good chunk of Rihanna’s ‘Rated R’, having Snoop Dogg use ‘Eastern Jam’ for ‘Snoop Dogg Millionaire’ and seen their popularity grow tenfold.

Billed as a ‘new album showcase’, tonight’s show reflects the diversity of their popularity with one cursory look at the crowd. There are a range of people here and whilst its admittedly a crowd over half populated by teens, there are enough ‘adults’ to dismiss the notion Chase & Status are a ‘Skins’ generation artist. In this vein it’s with a knowing wink that they open with Guns N Roses sampling ‘Smash TV’, many in the audience clearly remembering the original from their youth. What it succeeds in doing is (to reference Tempa T) getting the crowd hyped, the front ten rows going ape when they fully kick into it. The intensity that a ‘drop’ has when performed by a full band is a sight to behold and full credit to the drummer, who earns his keep tonight with a display even the Energizer bunny would envy.

The bands set continues with numerous guests - the album showcase allowing them to unite all of those who’ve collaborated on either album for one night only. Tempa T appears for the now-regular ‘Saxon Hype’ mashup which drops straight into new single ‘Hypest Hype’. His appearance lacks the usual intensity witnessed on the festival circuit with them this summer - thought that could just be that his one trick shtick is starting to grate slightly. The crowd lap it up however, giving him the largest greeting of all guests that night - one that he would not have even dreamt of receiving at this point even six months ago. ‘Music Club’ follows this one-two and is a welcome addition to the set, the rare outing highlighting its quality and the element of jungle within it keeping the crowd ‘on a hype ting’. ‘End Credits’ (minus Plan B as a special guest) and ‘Eastern Jam’ showcase the diversity that C&S can achieve, the calm before the bass heavy storm. ‘Eastern Jam’ is undoubtedly the highlight of the set with no signs of age showing, still identifiably the track that really brought dubstep to the masses.

For the most part, unheard new material shows a progression whilst still having the quality of previous work. The only tracks that would raise concern are ‘Sleepless’ (the predictability of the track even on first listen is alarming) and ‘Time’, though that may be down to the vocalist herself, whose voice isn’t strong enough to resonate over the track. On the whole, their set is engaging and entertaining - though it lacks the punch of their shortened festival sets from the summer, the new material mostly fits in well tonight. The wisdom on display in the setlist, absence of ‘Against All Odds’ aside, in its mix of upbeat and reflective material also suggests that come the release of the new album (31st January, fact fans) the fans won’t be disappointed - neither will the casual observer.