On Wednesday the 27th of March at Hackney’s Oslo live music venue, Annie Mac had curated a night of contemporary jazz, neo-soul, R&B, and radical Hip-Hop with a line up of Brighton based vocalist Celeste a vocalist, Hackney’s very own Kojey Radical a prominent conscious Hip-Hop artist, and the headliner who hails from Leicester, Mahalia.
Before any of the acts had graced the stage, one couldn’t help but be in awe of what a great venue for live music the Oslo is. In regards to size Oslo have their music venue down to a T, not small, but just big enough for their both to be a healthy crowd vibe, but also close proximity to the performing acts, an easily accessible bar, and a supremely high quality sound system as crisp as one could hope for.
I went to the night looking forward to seeing a highly talented lyricist in Kojey Radical, and of course became a fan of Mahalia after her sensational viral hit “Sober” which she bodied on her Colours Berlin performance, however I left the show happy to have thrilled to have heard for the first time the opening act Celeste. That is not to say the other two were sub par, but I was perhaps taken by surprise from an artist I had never really heard of before this night.
Celeste’s vocal performance was that of a seasoned artist as she captivated the audience with her stunning renditions. Joined by a live jazz band named Gotts Street Park which included a keyboard player, a bass player, a drummer, and a saxaphone player, Celeste kicked things off with “Love is Back”, and went on to perform the tracks “Maybe”, “Lately”, “Father’s Son”. Backed up by the Gotts Street Park boys, Celeste led an extremely enjoyable and solid performance of neo-soul and jazz, which has implored me to now keep a tab on her music.
Next up was Kojey Radical. Normally conscious rappers are prone to being underwhelming live performers, but for Kojey this was definitely not the case; as from the start he had the whole crowd rocking to the booming trumpets of his Swindle produced track “Coming Home” with him leaping onto the stage and bursting the entire place into life with his contagious energy.
This energy did not falter throughout his performance as he leapt and danced around before he closed on another Swindle produced hit of his “Water” which features Mahalia who briefly popped out from backstage to perform her part. If you haven’t had the chance to catch a live Kojey performance or show, do it, because you’d be in for a treat.
Finally, it was time for the act most the people in the crowd were holding out for, Leicester’s neo-soul and R&B queen Mahalia. Like the act before her Mahalia channels an infectious energy but less gassy and more happy than Kojey’s as her beaming smile lit up the room. Aided on stage by a bass player named Charlie, the first track she did was “No Pressure” in which she used a sample machine for the background instrumental adding an edge to the performance.
Next she performed “Honey Moon” this time taking up a guitar as she performed. Her next track was “One Night” which features Kojey who joined her on stage for an almost theatrical performance as the two tussled back and forth playing the role of a couple in anguish (the chemistry was too good for them not to have rehearsed it before).
She went on to play “Silly Girl”, an acoustic cover of Drake and Rihanna’s work, “Hold On”, “Good Reason”, “No Reply”, her most popular track “Sober”, her new single “Do Not Disturb”, and finished with another extremely popular track of hers “I Wish I missed my Ex”. Whilst every track was quality and an enjoyable live experience, for me her standout performance was an acapella track which also included some spoken word.
Another notable aspect of her performance was that before each song, Mahalia would reveal various nuggets of her life and how different tracks came to be which allowed those in attendance to feel closer to her, highlighting the therapeutic and cathartic elements of her creative process.
The most shocking revelation was perhaps that when making her breakthrough single “Sober” she initially hated the instrumental and sat on it for some time before eventually producing her golden track, and was shocked when it went on to be a viral sensation. She also went out of her way on numerous occasions to interact with her audience and was extremely grateful for the support she received.
Overall this was a great night of alternative music played in a venue perfect for such an occasion, big ups Annie Mac and the performers for a sick live music event!