Rizzle Kicks - O2 Academy - Glasgow (27/11/12)

Into the breach once more, or in a less literal sense, here I am in the O2 Academy waiting for Rizzle Kicks to come on.

This is another of my daughters favourites, and to be honest one that I don't find overly offensive to the ears, so I wasn't expecting this gig to be the nightmare that others I have attended in her company have been.

I was wrong.

The first act is Little Nikki.

The UK's answer to Rhianna.

Comparisons between the singers need to put into some context though.

If Rihanna is Harrods then Little Nikki is Poundland.

She has a guy on the decks accompanying here and a dancer.

One solitary dancer.

He mainly gyrates randomly about the stage, but on occasions there's some choreographed stuff where he and Little Nikki come very close to being in step with each other.

The guy on the decks fills the gaps with the age old 'let me see your hands in the air' and the obligatory 'make some noise.'

It feels like I've been sucked into some alternative reality where life is made up of MTV soundbites.

Technically Little Nikki is a very good singer who possesses a soulful voice, but this musical direction she is pursuing is being played out all day every day, and I doubt that she will float to the top unless she can give it more of a twist.

The highlight of her set was when a very small sample of mirror in the bathroom by The Beat was sused, and and that's not saying much.

Beside me during Little Nikki's set I had a young man and his lady friend either arguing, or maybe they were rehearsing for s future Jeremy Kyle show appearance.

Apparently he thinks that she's a mug for staying with Dave who beats the shit out of her.
According to her he has a cheek to slag Dave as he's out with her while his girlfriend is at home with his kid.

Oh, but it gets better.

He's not sure if it is his kid so that makes his night out with her at Rizzle Kicks okay.

As this conversation was slurred on a decibel level that beat the sound system that Little Nikki was using into submission I think that everyone in a ten foot radius was aware of the dispute.

I think everyone within that area also heard me sigh in relief when she stormed off shouting 'I need a piss. Are you coming?'

Nina Nesbitt was the second of the supports and she's angling to be the female Ed Sheeran, but falling far short of that.

She finished her slot with a cover of the Proclaimers 500 Miles that had the crowd emphatically roaring their approval, but this is Glasgow and a drunk wandering home singing anything by the Proclaimers can get a round of applause so the response isn't saying much.

Fans of Nina Nesbitt are apparently called Nesbians.

There's a fact for you that I gleaned from the flyer.

Here's another fact for you. Little Nikki smells of coconut.

I know this as she stood next to me for a couple of seconds after Nina Nesbitt went off and for 30 minutes after it I was still breathing in Bounty fumes.

Rizzle Kicks are as slick as a greased pole at farmers fair.

So slick that mid second song I felt the nudge of deja vu.

I've only seen a few videos and television appearances by them, but that's enough to get a handle on the whole performance.

The band they have are super tight and really beyond criticizing, and to be fair so are the two lads of Rizzle Kicks.

They never miss a beat, or an intro, and their high energy act is relentlessly exhausting.

It's definitely a value for money show as they don't give anything less than 100% from start to finish, but there's nothing in it that lifts my spirits or forms a connection.

The relatively young audience love it and that's great to see as this is a real band playing and not some pop diva lip syncing to a backing track, but it's not enough for me.

All my years of gig going have allowed me to see this so many times that when I indulge in live music I want to see something less slick, or so slick that I can't tell if the performance is choreographed or not.

Out of ten I'd give the Rizzle Kicks boys a five.

Once they have shed the teenybopper fanbase they are talented enough to possible surprise us all with something that has more depth to it, but time will tell.

Meanwhile the kids love them and for now that will do.

Warning : A pint was an eye watering £3.90