Metro City was packed. And just when I thought they couldn’t squeeze another person in the room without invoking some sort of fire hazard, out poured Rudimental’s core four onto the stage along with a menagerie of multi-instrumentalists and vocalists. My feeling of claustrophobia was quickly forgotten as the stage broke out into vibrancy. It was a no frills just talent sort of show, with no gimmicks to distract you like some electronic music concerts have. The vocalists and Rudimental member DJ Locksmith performed some synchronised booty shaking and shuffling (as one does at a drum’n’bass show) in between vocal acrobatics, with the occasional high kick from vocalist Anne-Marie Nicolson, a former three-time world karate champion, if her facebook artist page is a reliable source.

Their set featured songs from both albums, their latest We the Generation and their 2012 release Home, but all the songs got a fresh organic reboot with the instruments played live on stage. Their tried and tested (and effective formula) of triumphant drum’n’bass powered choruses followed by a monumental drop was made more so with the inclusion of a small brass section, Will Heard doubling as saxophonist and vocalist, especially during “Not Giving In” and “We the Generation”. The highlight of the show for me was when the audience sang along at the top of their lungs to “Free” ending in a sort of chant-like fadeout:

C’est la vie / Maybe something’s wrong with me / Oh at least / I am free

Also, it’s not a regular day you can walk into an EDM concert and get to see a five minute shredding guitar solo and banging drum solo (hehe).

As DJ Locksmith put it just before they played “Go Far”, the message of Rudimental is to spread love. As cheesy as it sounds, I really did walk out with warm fuzzies that night, that or I danced a little too much and overdid my daily recommended amount of cardio.