Live Review

Plan B – Apollo, Manchester

• 6th Apr 2011

Last year saw Ben Drew, aka Plan B, shock and mystify music critics and the public alike by releasing an album titled ‘The Defamation of Strickland Banks’. The album was conceptional and chronicled the life and time of Strickland Banks. What was the major surprise was that Plan B was a really grittier rapper before this album and to go and reinvent himself as a soul singer was a brave and career risky move.

But the risk payed off handsomely and catapulted Plan B into the mainstream resulting in a smash hit album and a Brit Award for Best British Male. I was excited to see Plan B live as his set on the Brit Awards stole the show. The Apollo itself had the most diverse audience I think I have ever seen in a concert before. From teenage girls to men who were easily in their 60’s I was surprised to see how much this album has made an impact. As Plan B took to the stage to ‘Writing’s On The Wall’ the crowd were in unison signing along.

Not one with massive stage presence, Plan B navigated the stage like a man in a trance delivering solid vocals and keeping the crowd in his pocket. Where he struggled was with the high falsetto’s required to pull of the big notes of his songs but to be honest I didn’t expect him to hit every note and it didn’t spoil it for me. The excellent ‘Welcome to Hell’, which is my favourite track on the album seen Plan B at his very best. A song with simple lyrics but so violent and thought provoking, lines such as ‘I put my brave face on, so they won’t know that I’m scared’. Pretty much sums up what most people going to prison would be thinking, I’m guessing.

‘Prayin’, ‘The Recluse’ and ‘Love Goes Down’ paints a bleak picture of how Strickland has been wronged but it is entertaining and fabulously written. For his next album, Plan B plans to make it reggae; i for one cannot wait for it.

The encore of the show saw Plan B revert back to his rapping roots with his biggest hit from his debut album. ‘No More Eatin’ was wild and the older folk in the audience didn’t know where to look. Just when I thought he may be losing a section of the crowd he surprised everyone by breaking out into Soul classics (with a little help from the excellent support act FaithFX), ‘Tracks Of My Tears’, ‘Kiss From A Rose’ and one of my all time favourite ‘Stand By Me’. To finish he rounded off a great show with his most popular track ‘Stay Too Long’; a great diverse show and really showcased how talented Ben Drew really is.