Regarding last night, Mark E, from ireallylovemusic, writes:
“so after many years of following the trials and tribulations of adam aka akira the don, having appeared in his first animated video, being the first to organise an online interview with him as a solo artist, etc etc last night the 2 of us finally met.
when the tour dates were announced i have to admit letting my jaw drop when i spotted bristol academy nov 20th. i mean i knew that adam had an audience, i had heard of the spread of his infamous mixtapes, but damn the academy holds 1600 people, my last adventures to this place were to see sisters of mercy (dreadful - i walked out), suede (the penultimate tour), and the fantastic gorillaz show, so just how would adam manage with such a vast space.
i am really out of touch that much and there is that kind of demand for his rock-n-pop sanctioned hip hop.
the truthful answer is, unfortunately, no.
the gig was situated in the much more suitable bar upstairs (known as academy 2 apparently). i prefer gigs like this, eyeball contact and rumbling sonics.
however, before the beat began there was the small issue of saying hello.
i should state, that i rarely get nervous when meeting new people, i am too old and according to the bands guitarist, jeremy, moody (ha!), to get all tongue tied, but shaking hands with adam and saying ‘long time no see’ will probably go down in history as one of the most stupid things i’ve ever said. adam looked as confused as i very quickly became somewhat concerned about the loss of my own mental ability, but later on i realised that in some ways this is all part of the open heart surgery that takes place on the mans blog, his ongoing exposure of the mechanics of the music industry, meaning prior to the meeting of the palms, i felt as if i knew him, and in some strange twisted bending of the virtual world, felt connected to his love and pain.
thankfully, a quick, lets go to the pub dissipated the moment.
drinks were bought amongst the black leathered up rock fans, (motorhead were playing in a venue not yards from the academy) and we chatted.
covering all manner of things old and new, from the current uk hip hop scene, ice cube vs public enemy, 128 bitrates, even down to choice of producers for the album, all of which proved that adam still loves the music far more than most people who have been sucked into the major label system and spat out at the other end should.
when the time came, i ventured back to the venue and the fun began.
the set was controlled from the ubiquitous laptop, with mary turner adding vocals and the odd keyboard part, and job threatening guitar histrionics from jeremy ‘playlouder’ allen and a backdrop on which the blob character is projected in all manner of politically settings.
the large budget productions funded by interscope thankyou, sounded fantastic with the required volume.
even with the added extras of feedback every time adam tried to go beyond the much needed barrier, meaning that for the 45 minutes he became like a caged animal, preventing him from wandering through the audience as he apparently loves to.
having seen a few live hip hop shows i can safely say that this was the first in which i preferred the live versions over the album, i smiled, i danced a little, and i laughed, and even shouted a strange phrase out loud in a candyman 5 times situation (with reasons to be revealed via the blog in a few days), with adam playing master of ceremonies for all its worth.
the akira the don persona comes into another dimension when faced with a live audience, random madness, tracks stopped midflow, and general rock-n-roll fun filled chaos highlighted when son of king rebel (or jeremy in the real world) mounted the speaker stack, to give it the full on guitar solo pose, albeit in a hunched form due to the low ceiling.
the albums classics, and a few extras besides, were wheeled out, proving that the mans vocal skillz at matching beats and noise to his multilayered rhymes is as solid as you’d expect, and from discussions with tour manager, dan, getting better with each show (this is adams first tour proper), meaning you really should see him now before the rest of the world catches up with the man.
album of the year.
gig of the year.”
And it is very sweet of you to say as much, Mr E. It was a pleasure to meet you too. And the rest of you. Safety in numbers. PAX.
Wanna know how they 
