Live: The Pharcyde

8th February 2013

Sound Control

8/10

Reunion shows are always a mixed affair for Hip Hop fans, as anyone who saw De La Soul’s disappointing set at last years’ Parklife will tell you, so the prospect of seeing The Pharcyde perform their mid-90s masterpiece, Bizarre Ride II, was a daunting one. With the news that founding members Imani and Bootie Brown would be absent from the tour, on paper tonight sounded like another example of has-been rappers chasing former glory, desperate to remind everyone of how great they were.

I needn’t have worried. Surviving MCs Fatlip and Tre more than compensated for the absence of their former band-mates in an evening that was all about giving fans what they wanted to hear. After a modest introduction, the keyboard hook from ‘Oh Shit’ sounded and they were off, trading schoolyard rhymes so infectiously that they soon had the crowd bellowing along to the song’s giddy refrain.

With any other act this comprehensive approach to performing a hip hop album would be dull, but The Pharcyde’s meticulous reproduction of each track was a reminder of just how great a recipe they discovered here. Producer J-Swift’s densely-layered beats sounded as vibrant as ever on the notoriously dodgy Sound Control system, while Tre’s goofy, highly melodic flow was a particular highlight on the Herbie Mann sampling ‘Otha Fish’ and cross-over anthem ‘Passing Me By’.

The tunes have barely aged, but the extent to which The Pharcyde are now reliant on a greying audience of former stoners and students was painfully obvious, rhapsodizing about weed before ‘Pack the Pipe’ or playing a clip by disgraced comedian Katt Williams for cheap laughs. Yet while the usual Rap-cliches were all present and correct, they  seemed to take on a different purpose in a band who are so candid and self-deprecating in their lyrics. After the emotional sucker punch of ‘Runnin’, their greatest hit from Labcabincalifornia, Tre demanded that the house lights be turned on so they could see the crowd. For most rappers this would be another opportunity for self-worship, but he merely seemed pleased that we were there at all. It was an oddly moving moment, proving that, done properly, reunion shows can be a worthwhile experience.