Sunday 20 July 2014

Sugarhill Gang at King Tut's Wah Wah Hut

Last night I caught the legendary Sugarhill Gang in the intimate environment of King Tut's Wah Wah Hut!

In all my years of attending shows at Tut's I have never experienced an atmosphere like the one they created last night. It was pure party. The three rappers were backed by a huge DJ who spun their hits and others.

The first 35 minutes were truly sensational. I haven't smiled and danced that much at a gig since Chic at Wickerman last summer. In truth, last night was much more than a gig. Sugarhill Gang turned Tut's into a house party.

8th Wonder and Apache sounded fantastic as Michael Wright, Hank Jackson and Guy O'Brien rolled back the years by bounding about and swapping positions on stage, urging the crowd to throw their hands in the air, wave them from side to side and scream.


Old Skool Hip Hop was the name of the game and Sugarhill Gang worked the crowd into a frenzy with tunes like The Message causing Tut's to go wild. The Gang were quite taken aback by the response and commended the crowd which only served to enhance the atmosphere. By the end of the show we were being referred to as the 'loudest in the world'.

White Lines was utterly stupendous. The atmosphere was ramped up another notch. If the Gang ever do venture back to Glasgow it would be incredible to turn their performance into a club night. The 3 rappers worked things superbly, they really were ultimate professionals in crowd participation. If we weren't putting our hands in the air, waving them like we just don't care or screaming then at one point we were all sliding from left to right. Everyone was loving it.

Rappers Delight was better than we could have dreamed with a load of girls from the crowd invited up on stage to party with the band. Some of them knew all the words which again just helped the crowd party.


After that it turned into a house party with the DJ dropping all kinds of tunes; starting with some modern hip hop influenced by the Sugarhill Gang - Jay-Z and Eminem.

Two of the band then left to sign cd's (still hustling after all these years) leaving the DJ and most energetic member to keep the party going. There was a great run of songs including Madonna's Holiday, Eurythmics Sweet Dreams, Nirvana's Teen Spirit and The Jackson 5's I Want You Back. There was a hilarious moment when they dropped Vanilla Ice and I need to find the name of the Mary J Blige track that was totally gorgeous.

The DJ mixed it up big style before ending with Michael Jackson's Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough. Chants of 'one more tune' were sadly turned down, but everyone in the crowd had a smile on their face as wide as the Clyde after this show. Catch them if you can.





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