Reprazent

Glastonbury Festival 2000

Friday 23rd to Sunday 25th June 2000
Worthy Farm, Pilton, nr Glastonbury, Somerset, England
£89 including booking fee and postage

Daily capacity: 80,000

Reprazent
Jazzworld Stage
23:00 Friday 23rd June 2000

Not a huge crowd for the live jungle maestros, probably due to the pull of the Chems on the Pyramid Stage. Back after a lengthy absence from live performance, and with a new album ready to drop in September, I was interested to see if their sound had developed and if they could still cut it against the competition (E-Z Rollers). After seeing them a couple of times when they were touring after "New Forms", I thought that their sound was a bit narrow, and once you'd seen em once you'd seen it all.

They played a mix of old hits (Share the Fall, Brown Paper Bag etc) and a load of new stuff including the forthcoming single. All the new tracks were more melodic than I expected, with one almost uplifting number towards the end, and were mostly vocal lead. The vocalists, Onalee and MC Dynamite, tried to hype the slightly reluctant crowd and although the band seemed energised the crowd took a while to get going. They also played a non-jungle ragga style track, which had a really different flavour to the rest of the set. Overall, their new tunes sounded better developed, deviating from the jazzy, hard Bristolian sound and showing new influences. Reprazent always put on a good show, and this was no exception, the band working well together and their drummer and bass player providing a driving live force.

They also played a wicked segment with the four producers (Roni Size, Krust, Die and Suv) pasting together parts of their own records along with classics from their associated labels . Dynamite told the crowd to see how many they could name - I'm ashamed to say I only remember four: It's Jazzy, Brute Force, Snapshot and Warhead - it was great to here peoples cheers of recognition as they cut em up. A moment for the proper jungle headz, and a nod from the band to their hardcore fans.

They wound up with an encore of Brown Paper Bag, which was good, but they'd played it already. Overall I was impressed with the new diversity of their set; they could of stuck to their tried and tested formula, but didn't. It was always going to be difficult following up a genre shaping album like New Forms, but it looks like they ain't gonna do at all badly. I look forward to the new album… will it have the same impact as the last?

review by: Luke Williams