WORDS AND IMAGE BY WARREN MILLAR
“You Could Hear Little Simz Doing Some Spoken Word From Back Stage And Then All Of A Sudden As The Intro Finished She Came Striding On Stage, The Stage Lights Came On And The Crowd Went Nuts”
Following the release of her most recent album “Sometimes I may Be Introvert” which received critical acclaim, British/Nigerian rapper and multi award winner “Little Simz” visited The O2 Academy, Liverpool tonight we were there to see this Islington girl do her stuff.
With the likes of “Kendrick Lamar” saying about Little Simz “There’s a young lady out here that’s pretty dope by the name of Little Simz,” and alongside collaborations with the likes of Becky Hill, Raleigh Ritchie and Gorrilaz this all adds up to what should be a great gig. Just as a side note Simz new album “Sometimes I may Be Introvert” spells out Little Simz nick name “SIMBI” which I thought was rather cool.
The venue for tonight’s gig is the O2 Academy, Liverpool which is right next to Liverpool’s Lime Street Station, very handy for me as I let the train take the strain tonight traveling into the City with quite a few Christmas party goers all looking forward to their night out just as much as I was.
I got to the venue in plenty of time and was chatting to the security guy on the Photo Pit and this came up with a gem of a slip up. I asked him did he know the set times and he replied “yeah OTG the support is on at 8.00 and Little Mix at 9.00” I did have a little giggle at that.
So first up in support was OTG with a stripped down set. Just OTG and decks with backing tracks on which he rapped along to brilliantly. He also conversed with the ever growing crowd with a quiet and very friendly way and this was loved by the Liverpool music fans who seemed to warm to him very much. He knew his crowd and got them warmed up very nicely indeed in preparation of what was to come.
With OTG leaving the stage at 8.30 on the dot this gave the hard working stage crew half an hour to set the stage up for Little Simz. The lights dimmed and the crowd cheered as the five members of her band took to the stage in very very dim lighting and started playing a longish Intro to the first song “The Rapper That Came To Tea”. You could hear Little Simz doing some spoken word from back stage and then all of a sudden as the intro finished she came striding on stage, the stage lights came on and the crowd went nuts.
Little Simz fan base from what I could see tonight range from young teens to much older music fans but one thing can be sure judging from their reaction to everything this girl does on stage (which is quite a lot) is that they adore her and I can quite understand after seeing her tonight, amazing stuff.
I’ll say this now I’m not the biggest fan of rap music but I am now a fan of Little Simz and the connection she makes with her fans in a live performance is something else and lets face it if you get great remarks about your art from one of the greatest (Kendrick Lamar) then you are something special and most likely destined for some very big things.
Stand out songs from her live set for me where “I Love You, I Hate You” which had the whole sell out crowd bouncing to and singing word perfect. “Point And Kill” Just brilliantly performed and her final song “Woman”
Well what a night it was. I got on the train home with the Christmas party goers, some a little worse for wear and thought to myself “I bet none of these have had such a great night of live music” Unless of course they had been in The O2 Academy listening to Little Simz with me.
Set List
1/ The Rapper That Came To Tea
2/ Introvert
3/ Two Worlds Apart
4/ I Love You, I Hate You
5/ Boss
6/ Speed
7/ Standing Ovation
8/ One Life, Might Live
9/ Damn Right
10/ Rollin Stone
11/ Gems
12/ Wings
13/ God Bless Mary
14/ Backseat
15/ I See You
16/ Pragmatic (OTG Cover)
17/ 101 FM
18/ Selfish
19/ Protect My Energy
20/ Point And Kill
21/ Fear No Man
FOLLOW LITTLE SIMZ
Warren is a live music and festival photographer based in Cheshire and covers gigs/festivals mostly in the North West of England. He has been photographing live music for over 10 years and has covered major artists and festivals
