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Stereo MC’s, with DJ Format – O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire, London – 09/12/25

Sometimes, before a drum pad is tapped or a vinyl is scratched, you can tell if a gig will be good just by the crowd. I was reviewing a show in Islington the other week, and the gathering masses of laddish middle-aged men and boorish teens in Parkas, taunting each other across the room and chanting about Tottenham being rubbish*, put a sour taste in my mouth. I was unsurprised when the indie frontman gurned his way through a set of forgettable verses and middling choruses.

The audience at Shepherd’s Bush Empire was, thankfully, better composed. Mothers with daughters, fathers with sons, families, groups of friends, young and old – all with an obvious and infectious reverence for Stereo MC’s. The group were at the forefront of the UK’s dance and hip-hop boom in the 90s, winning awards for Best British Album and Group at the 1994 Brit Awards, and they even hold a place in history as the first UK rap group on the Billboard Hot 100 (with the single ‘Elevate My Mind’, if there are any pub quizmasters reading).

The wonderful DJ Format manfully readied the crowd, spinning his record collection for a couple of hours before the Stereo MC’s appeared. Tribe into Del into Main Source, each track keeping the long wait until 9pm seem brief, the earlycomers too busy moving to the East Coast sound to think about the time or the beer prices.

Stereo MC’s Rob B and Cath Coffey eventually rushed the stage, backed by Nick Hallam and percussionist Tansay Omar, the rapturous applause giving way for a cooly delivered rendition of ‘Pressure’. The set oscillated between their biggest hits (‘Connected’ and ‘Step It Up’) and their earliest singles (‘On 33’), the energy never letting up, the percussion entrancing the audience into at least a two-step, many of whom gave a chuffed laugh with every successive song. 

A key reason for such a brilliant atmosphere, I would say, is the lyrical content. Don’t cast me as a prude; I’m not some evangelist on telly saying hip-hop is the devil. Rap, sing, speak whatever words you want, and as long as they’re authentic, they can be great, no matter how vulgar or crass. But when you have songs like those by Stereo MC’s, where the message is always about optimism, energy, progress – how can you not be enamoured?

That seems to be the core of a Stereo MC’s gig. All members of the band seemed humble and thankful, every word driven by a heartfelt positivity. When you back all this up with dancefloor classics and – why not – throw in a double encore, you’ll have treated the Shepherd’s Bush crowd to a highlight of their year.

*They are rubbish, but it’s always a certain kind of person who starts that chant.

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