live music

Editor's rating

Venue: Birmingham 02 Academy
Gig played: 9 June 2009

Lady Sovereign's cheeky demeanour is a bit like something out of The Beano. And during her performance tonight - showcasing tracks from her latest album Jigsaw and its predecessor Public Warning - there's a sense that we might end up pelted by a catapult.

A fresh-faced audience awaits her arrival onstage; a musical intro builds for a spectacular entrance, only for the diminutive rapper to appear with the line: "That was an anti-climax wasn't it?" The audience laughs and she launches straight into Jigsaw's opener, 'Let's Be Mates'. Sovereign prowls the stage, displaying a cartoonish attitude that she clearly relishes and uses to enhance her public persona. The music, unfortunately, is similarly simple and abrasive.

Halfway through the second song of the night, something is clearly wrong. Looking distressed, Sov suddenly cuts the performance short and apologises to the confused crowd with the words: "I will do a good job, I promise."

But the promise is short-lived. Midway through the third number she stops again and it seems the disastrous set is going to be a short one too. But, despite the mess-ups (it's unclear whether they've sprung from personal or technical problems), she struggles on.

Sovereign clearly gets a kick from bantering with the audience, but such moments are the highlights of a hugely lacklustre set. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the masses take little interest in the unknown and underperformed tunes on offer, only livening up during a rendition of most recent single 'So Human'.

Despite an attempted comeback from the early mistakes, Sovereign's performance is disappointing and uninspired - strangely, she ends the night by unsuccessfully instigating an immediately disbanding mosh pit. For gig-goers, the memory of tonight's show will be similarly quick to vanish.

Guy Halford