I wish someone had filmed it.

What happened was, I walked up the stairs at the back of the ICA to the dressing rooms, and there, at the top of them, towering like Goliath, was an already-moist Chilly Gonzles, tying a bright orange tie around his neck. I peered up at him, like Jack at the bottom of the beanstalk.

“Wow,” I said. “You’ve grown.”

The big red head up in the clouds appraised from above.

“You haven’t,” he replied.

So. Yeah. Last night. Gonzales and Le Together Ensemble, plus special guest Akira The Don live at the ICA. Last time I was there it was 2004, and I was compering a week long PlayLouder festival starring people like The 80s Matchbox and Black Twang and Pittman and a then unknown The Killers. I would run onstage a bit drunk and shout at people. How times change!

And last time I saw Chilly it was probably 2002. He invited me to come onstage and rap with him at The Eden Project. I don’t think I was even that good at rapping then. It was awesome. We did some terrible gag involving dental floss, which we yanked between each other’s teeth, chanting “y’all can’t floss with us”. My Crack Village bandmates P$ and Kool Kid Fresh were with me, and afterwards we took the remainder of Chilly’s rider and went off adventuring in these huge biospheres they have there, weird big domes in which Tropical and Mediterranean climates are simulated. I got bitten by a weird Mediterranean spider, which gave me super powers and turned me into The Don. And Kool Kid sprayed “Crack Village” on Pulp’s tourbus, which caused some upset between them and Gonzales. Jarvis and Gonzo, however, are now best friends and hang out together in Gay Par-ee.

“I like to think I played a small part in that beautiful friendship,” I said.

“Perhaps you did,” smiled Gonz.

Anyway. Last night was awesome because:

a: Chilly was everything he used to be and more. The most entertaining thing you will ever see. The most sweat ever seen on one stage. The cartoon ego. The amazing ballads. The showmanship. The piano skills. The implausibly memorable and hooky raps. A brilliant backing band – SoCalled, Katie Moore, Matthew Flowers and Handsome Mocky doing Animal drums.

b: ME! I came on at the end of the show and rapped the first verse from my Working Together Remix and I didn’t fuck up in the slightest! I was awesome! I did awesome pratfalls and everything! If I’d seen me, I’d have been like, wow, that guy with the mane is the SHIT! Sign me up for his fanclub!

So, all in all a great night. Gonzales and Le Together Ensemble are going back to Europe for more dates now. Go see them, your life will be enriched.

AND! Check out this sweet set of photos from last night, taken by Pizza Girl Productions and Neil from MusicLikeDirt.com. POW!

• Akira The Don & Chilly Gonzales – Thanks For All The AIDS
• Akira The Don – Nah Nah Nah ft Gonzales & Mary Turner
• WATCH: Chilly Gonzales – The Grudge (Live In Some Trouser Shop)
• LISTEN: Gonzales – Pianist Envy (Mixtape)
• Doobie dobbie-doo
• Next: Chilly Gonzales VS Akira The Don

Tags: akira the don, gig, gonzales, ica, jarvis, jarvis cocker, katie moore, le together ensemble, live, matthew flowers, mocky, Photos, pulp, socalled, the ICA, working together, working together remix