Rock & Pop - Example @ Dingwalls
Published 28 January 2010
by TOM BROOKS-POLLOCK
IT’S a sure sign that something big is happening in pop culture when an audience riots. Either that, or poor organisation – handing over bouncing duties to the Hell’s Angels, for example, is not recommended.
While Example’s gig at Camden Dingwalls was not quite the Rolling Stones at Altamont, the Fulham rapper’s young and enthusiastic band of followers did invade the stage at the end.
They had been in a state of delirium throughout, particularly during Girls Can’t Dance, Watch the Sun Come Up and current single Won’t Go Quietly.
The songs combine stomping electro beats and a rapping style somewhere between Mike Skinner and Kanye West, as Example regales us with his various amusing scrapes (and successes) with girls. Unsophisticated it may be, but it certainly seems to do it for a certain type of 16-year-old middle-class kid.
It would be easy to be cynical about Example’s commercial act. But it was refreshing to see the unruly joy of his fans. As his backing DJ, Wire, spun a crashing jungle tune after the last song, all hell broke loose – and not a bouncer in sight.