It is a great night of gangstas and playas down in Fiddlers, Bedminster. We park the car just outside Asda, which is one of the great assets of this club. Good parking I mean not Asda, which is usually closed this time of night, its carpark a skid pan for young drivers and trolly terrorists.
I remember living down here in a house just off East Street, the flats above the shops were full of drug dealers and a man used to sell guns and rifle crossbows out the back of his car behind us. I used my time in Bemmy wisely, augmenting my collection of CDs, videos and guitars from Cash Convertors while pretending to work on my degree and popping to Fiddlers every time they had a world music gig. But that was a long time ago. These days I live in the Hood, very close to where I did my time for the community of St Pauls, a place I have never given an apostrophe, although tradition demands it.
In the darkened low-ceiling'd room the excited crowd are all focussed on the back room, heads nodding seriously as Two DJs take turns to impress each other and astound the rest of us. You get the impression that DJ Moneyshot and his mate are here as much for themselves as for the audience, as if they would be doing this at home anyway. The music is mix-tape mashups, old disco songs with funky hip hop beats, pop, even a bit of Radiohead gets the treatment and it's a great start to the evening.
Giant Panda take the stage while I'm yearning for some live hip hop and here we are with a classic old school sound. A bit of audience participation paves the way nicely for the heroes of the evening, Ugly Duckling. If you haven't seen or heard them DO IT NOW. This band are hilarious, comedy sketches and a refreshing hip hop dissing of all that 'tough guy' macho nonsense (that I also quite like) other rappers go for.
In the manner of a man unable to finish his review: out of ten, I'd give them a muffin.