There was a lot of attention around Stormzy’s debut album, Gang Signs and Prayer, as it reached number 1 in the Official UK Chart. There was an equal amount of hype for the tour with the Grime MC playing at venues across the country.
Last night he graced the stage in front of a packed out Bournemouth O2 Academy with Yungen in attendance. The atmosphere was electric before he even came out, with A2 performing some of his latest songs, including DBLE and Holograms.
Proceedings got even crazier when Stormzy came out to perform. His opening song, First Things First was greeted with a big mosh pit and a wall of noise from the audience. As the show went on there were plenty more mosh pits, a sea of mobile phones filming and countless people relaying every word back to him.
It was anthems like Big For Your Boots, Know Me From and Shut Up that got the biggest reactions from the crowd. However, there were also intimate sing-alongs when the slower tracks, Velvet, Cigarettes & Cush and 100 Bags were played.
There were a few surprises, with Stormzy’s remix of Ed Sheeran’s hit Shape of You being featured. He didn’t bring out any guest performers but he did more than enough to hold the audience in the palm of his hand for the entirety of the show.
One fan managed to get on stage and was given two seconds of fame as Stormzy put the mic to his mouth. He wasted that time by saying “what is gwarnin my Gs” before being told to get off, but it showed just how comfortable Stormzy is with his fans and the fact that he genuinely wants them to enjoy their night.
This show epitomised the progression of the grime scene, long gone are the days of dingy basements with just a man and a mic. The production was brilliant, with extravagant lighting and visual effects. All this behind a topless Stormzy dripping with sweat made the performance look picturesque at times, which greatly contrasted the madness that was going on in the crowd.
The fans didn’t want this performance to end and Stormzy treated them to a remixed version of Know Me From when they thought it was all over, before giving one last salute to the crowd as the lights went off and the crowd departed.