Throwing the Engine Shed into complete chaos, Chase & Status brought their bone-shattering, bass-driven live show to Lincoln on Thursday, May 13th.
Opening the show were dubstep producers 16 Bit. The duo were welcomed to lukewarm applause, however soon had the sell out crowd eating out of the palm of their hand. Throwing out remixes of the likes of Rihanna and Plan B got the audience warmed up for the headline act.
However, before Chase & Status could take to the stage, the crowd were subjected to the average Devlin. After originally billed Tinie Tempah pulled out due to a clash in his tour schedule, Devlin was added to fill in. His incessant chants of “Lincoln City” quickly grew tiresome, and his music wasn’t much better.
After a 20 minute break the duo everyone was there to see finally took to the stage. Led by MC Rage, Chase (Saul Milton) & Status (Will Kennard) literally shook the building with what sounded like a huge sub bass version of The Prodigy’s “Smack My Bitch Up”.
This led in to a brand new song from their forthcoming second album, expected at the end of August, and new songs were played throughout the set, including a collaboration with rising UK grime artist Tempa T.
Tempa T also performed the classic “Eastern Jam”, adding lyrics from his own track “Next Hype”. Other guests were hinted at by MC Rage, however these did not materialise.
The Chase & Status live show was an impressive visual spectacle, with a light show to rival the stadium headliners, and a great amount of energy from the front man.
Fan favourites such as “Is It Worth It” and “Hurt You” received great reactions, however the biggest cheers of the night came when Milton strapped on an acoustic guitar and played the first note of the 2009 hit “End Credits”.
This was followed by their huge track “Pieces”, which features Plan B on vocals and had the crowd singing every word back to them as they left the stage.
But the lights remained dim with the crowd chanting for more. The drum and bass icons returned with one of their most popular remixes, “Heartbeat” by Nnekka.
Energy levels shot straight back up, with circle pits forming throughout the crowd right to the end. The duo truly lived up to their reputation as great live performers, and proved worthy of being titled the country’s leading names in drum and bass and dubstep.
This was a night that the Engine Shed crowd won’t forget any time soon.