Live Report: D Double E – O2 Ritz, Manchester

The rainy city of Manchester welcomed grime royalty to the O2 Ritz last night.

D Double E is a legend when it comes to the genre. Since grime emerged from the London underground in the early ’00s, it has held its own as a harsh, real, and lyrically-dexterous facet of music. It stands as a gateway for expressing the point-blank realities in poverty-stricken lifestyles within the boroughs of the capital. Although grime landed as a muse with no past and (at the time) no future, the doors that it eventually opened, could never have been predicted at its time of war dubs and the nostalgic era of Channel U. But, after developing from a multitude of styles, mainly from the sounds of garage, jungle, dancehall, bashment and drum and bass, the labelling of grime to be a sub-genre of just hip-hop is lazy.

Luckily, last night, D Double E showcased why that is most definitely the case. Touring off the back of his widely well-received album, Double Or Nothing, (his second official project since 2018’s ‘Jackuum’), the former Nasty Crew MC was held in high regard from those in attendance, with a wide variety of OG followers, to the younger, entry-point fans; there was a good balance and energy in the room.

Supported by Lewisham-raised grime don, Novelist, the 24-year-old deserves his own praise for providing the best supporting performance I have seen in recent times. Turning the show into what gives flashbacks of a Risky Roadz/Radar Radio cypher, the show provided classic and new bars, gun fingers and plenty of reloads for Selecta to pull back.

However, as D Double E came on stage, he is accompanied by his DJ (and hype man) for a performance that stretched way further than his most recent album. Opening with the 808-rinsed ‘Frontline’, the calmy entering Double barely made it past the first “Bluku!”.

But, while getting deep into some of the album tracks from ‘Double Or Nothing’, the back catalogue is far from forgotten. Crowd favourites came from the likes of ‘Lyrical Hypnosis’, with the light production taking us through a complex story that allowed us to understand when Double needs his much-needed smoke breaks. While upcoming rap star, Jords hopped on stage to perform the collaborative ‘Old School Flex’; it was a nice surprise that added a slightly-needed burst of energy to the stage.

Though very much clearly still in the hunt for his perfect set-list, D Double E doesn’t lack stage presence, nor does his legendary status go unnoticed when he performs. He clearly instated that he is a dog of many tricks, dipping in and out of grime, drill, jungle and UKG, but when looking at the overall performance, and the standards that his same-era lyrical counterparts have shown at their respective shows, it is safe to say that practice still makes perfect.

You have to give him his props, though. While providing a good variety of genres and tracks, it’s safe to say that the overall performance was a good one. With it being the second date of the tour, during a rainy, Monday night in Manchester, these things need to be taken into consideration. The performance was just as danceable as it was skankable, so I have no doubts that the tour will only get better as it continues to go on.

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Words: Jack Lynch

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