Live Review

DJ Yoda – Kentish Town Forum, London

• 16th Nov 2012

The large poster in the foyer of the Kentish Town Forum proudly bills tonight’s main attraction as an ‘Audiovisual Spectacular, and when DJ Yoda pitches up on stage at around midnight, joined by a female chorus, it certainly seems that we will be in for an evening like never before.

Preceded by two other A/V DJ sets earlier serving as starters, followed by a palette cleansing DJ set that was strictly about the music, the fervour and atmosphere had grown tremendously in the build up to a man renowned for his uniquely geeky on-screen mash-ups.

Perversely, it seemed to be the ‘special’ guests tonight that made the night slightly less special, Afrikan Boy’s unannounced support slot detracted from the wall to wall DJs that had kept the steady stream of revellers that had filled the Forum moving. While everyone had been quite content to drink and dance all night, the arrival of a more traditional live act slowed the polite audience down to a slow shuffle as they tried hard to not stop dancing.

Having thrilled with his trademark cut ‘n’ paste style for an hour or so, halfway through the late headline slot Boy George strode onto the stage to join DJ Yoda for a rendition of new album collaboration Happy, and what should have surely been a high point of the evening was treated by most with a rather muted response, and then as soon he was done he strode off again. With the former Culture Club singer in attendance, and with Yoda’s long track record of creative mixing it seemed a missed opportunity not to have made something more memorable of the union rather than just running through an album track and swiftly moving on.

It was this method of self promotion that continued to confound the audience as Yoda continued to drop videos from latest album Chop Suey, later joined by Afrikan Boy and Sway in turn, that caused the same sort of reaction as when bands insist on trudging through their new album rather than sticking to the crowd pleasing hits.

DJ Yoda can hardly be blamed for this slight indulgence, he has made an album to be proud of, but those in attendance were here based on past form, wanting to party, mostly unaware that Yoda even had a new album to market judging by most people’s responses.

Having only previously seen DJ Yoda wheeling out his ever-changing audiovisual sets at clubs and festivals, the extended headline slot seemed to lose steam compared to high octane and highly entertaining performances that were half as long, buoyed by the weight of new album tracks too, it appeared that we were being force fed too much of a good thing.

Despite all the negatives I’ve been throwing around in this review, these were only the flipside to a thoroughly enjoyable and eclectic mix that rocked the floor, yet only floundered due to the weight of expectation.

It was clear that the majority of people gathered were already acolytes of DJ Yoda, familiar with his work in one form or another, and even the introduction of a bongo/turntable hybrid that was strapped on allowing Yoda to stalk the stage and scratch simultaneously as he rounded out proceedings, was not quite enough to recapture the earlier momentum.

It was good, but not spectacular enough.

Venue: Kentish Town Forum, London
Support Band: Guests