Brixton Academy, a shining beacon of old school glamour, contrasted against the harsh concrete backdrop of South London. A venue in which you might well go to listen to someone covering Bill Withers, dressed in an Armani suit with a saxophonist for company…except this particular gentleman teamed old classics with beat box, his brass with electric guitars and his suit hails more to the style of The Krays than it does to the Rat Pack.
Plan B, formerly known as 26-year old Ben Drew, with an alter ego named Strickland Banks, is on night one of a two night run at the Academy, part of a multi-date national sell out tour. The massive success of his second studio album, The Defamation of Strickland Banks went straight in at number one, shows that we as consumers have open hearts and open ears as we accept a relatively new mainstream artist who will bravely team a soulful voice with grimey rap.
The conflict that Drew himself represents is mirrored throughout his show. His support act Clare Maguire fully lives up to her reputation as one of THE faces to watch for 2011, her debut album isn’t due out for another six months, with an amazingly dominant voice. Team that with a full on red, fringed outfit and she would look at home on any West End stage. London born Ben shatters this dramatic note by opening his show with a fantastic beat box performance, impressive enough to rival any battle you may have seen in 8 Mile.
The storytelling aspect of the album under scrutiny that night was one of the reasons it was so successful. Drew’s songwriting ability was highly praised and the journey of title character Strickland Banks from being falsely accused of raping a fan to serving his time as a sex offender, could lead to some calling him the modern day Johnny Cash of his genre, in the relating to people in prison sense, not the whole man dressed in black thing. It was a worry that, played out of sync, some of the songs from the album would lose their appeal but it is a testament to the artist that they shine just as much out of context as they do when you listen to the album all the way through, in order. The soulful Prayin’ and latest offering The Recluse were both received with great aplomb from the highly diverse crowd, as was the rambunctious final offering of Stay Too Long, where Plan B proceeded to jump on the backs of his backing band and behave, well, like lads generally do when they’re having a good time.
The whole show echoed the artist, different faces all wanting to present themselves all at once. To make this work we have ourselves here a fantastically brave performer. You could safely go to see the show again as it is clear that no two performances would be the same, not without knowing which ego was going to surface that night…would it be Ben, who started out as a R’n’B star? Plan B, the grimey older cousin or troubled soul Strickland? With a show already planned for The O2, a stones throw from his home turf, how far is this boys’ star going to rise? Well, the jury’s out on that one.
