On Wednesday, 12th October, I was lucky enough to be able to go and see Aitch perform at the O2 Academy here in Sheffield.
Arriving at the gig, we had to laugh at the fact we were surrounded by a majority of kids that had probably come straight from school. We couldn’t help but notice the crowd of parents who had been banished to the top balcony, whilst the kids wanted to get in the mix of the crowd, full of snapchat stories and cartoon bucket hats.
DJ Bankz started the vibe off with a classic mix of old school favourites; if you closed your eyes you could have so easily been in Popworld. A remix of classics such as ‘Dancing Queen’ and ‘Party in the USA’ started the night off well. Aitch’s support act Tays MCR, a 17-year old lad from Manchester, followed shortly after. Despite frequent “Oh shit!”s, his music wasn’t bad; a classic performer for lovers of artists such as Aitch. Finishing his set, Tays performed his newest, unreleased single ‘What’s On Yours’. The lyrics were well-crafted and the backing track was certainly appreciated but the vibe was so clearly different. Encouraging the crowd to get the flashlights on would probably have been a good idea but ultimately it gave the feeling of being in the club when the lights were on. Overall, the support set was credible but performance wise, the cameraman and extra people standing on stage were a bit distracting.
Aitch’s hype man DJ Win got us all ready for the main act with more classics, even a grime remix of Oasis. The fact we were never without music for more than a few minutes was great and kept the vibe up whilst we waited for Aitch himself.
Around 9pm, Aitch came on to the sounds of smoke machines and heavy bass. He opened the gig with an older song of his, ‘Taste’. This was followed by classics such as ‘Buss Down’ and ‘Strike A Pose’. I know it’s the norm for grime songs, but the constant references to the “Sexy ladies in the room” did feel a bit over the top when some of us were just there to enjoy the music and not get hit on.
Around 9:50pm, an incident occurred in the crowd with someone collapsing. Aitch handled the situation really well by stopping immediately and encouraging people to move out the way so security could get through. After leaving the stage, DJ Win was great too at encouraging people to take water off the stewards and to stay safe. Luckily with a great response from the artist, it meant Aitch was back on stage performing by 10pm. His performance of ‘Rain’ was cinematic with the special effects fitting the vibe really well. You could tell this was appreciated through the increase in volume from crowd participation which really lifted the mood after the brief pause.
Aitch began to round off his set with his new single ‘My G’. This is a favourite of mine due to the emotion behind the lyrics and Aitch certainly expressed that in person too. His backdrop of images of his siblings and the more sentimental tone displayed whilst the backing of Ed Sheeran’s verses were played, was a great way to end the main set.
Finally, Aitch came on to an encore of ‘learning curve’ and finished the night with his summer classic ‘Baby’. It was a great ending to a good show. I’m sure you’d be able to tell via the millions of snapchat stories that were being filmed that evening.
Overall, we had a good night, but the experience wasn’t so amazing that I would have missed much by just listening to Aitch’s songs in a club.
