Shapeshifter were superb, mad dub drum ‘n’ bass heaven with hints of hip hop and funk. These are the joys of life: the beat, the bass, love and hope. They did a cover of Nina Simone’s Feelin’ Good, one of my favourite tracks right now. The last song before the encore ended with “all we give you is love’ called over and over again, over a wall of dub and drums. The last song of the whole night started as a beautiful soft thing, “music, you know, you mean the world to me, you make me feel so free, you make me feel complete…” followed by mournful saxophone and then eventually cascading again into tribal drums and phat bass crashing over me, hips moving, endless smile, arms raised in praise, yes, yes, yes, and I will take your love and your music and give it back to the world tomorrow that they might know this joy!
I gave the lead singer a flyer in the hope he might mention it, but although he talked of peace and love and against racism and reminded us we are all human, I don’t think he had a chance to see what it was about really when he glanced at it.
I needed this. I am now recharged and ready for the morning. Bring it on!