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Precious is a new-style weepie but one that is much more bracing than depressing
Precious
Theatre
Ian McKellen is captivating throughout. He delights in the play’s gallows humour, yet is also maudlin and poignant
Waiting for Godot
Theatre
Slight quibbles notwithstanding, this will set the West End’s stock riding high
Enron
Utterly, utterly brilliant. You really are in for a treat
Though 'Trilogy' has won rave reviews, I personally found myself exasperated after about an hour
We went on a quiet sunday evening and the food was excellent, but the experience let down by the service and ambiance
London,
David Smyth's rating
Reader rating
Description: The garage-grime and hip hop artist performs with the Heritage Orchestra.
Phone: 0844482 8008
Website: www.roundhouse.org.uk
Email: info@roundhouse.org.uk
Trains: Tube: Chalk Farm 
, Tube / Bus: 24, 27, 29, 31, 134, 135, 168, 214, 253, 274, C2 
Extra info: Pub, Food
All rapped up: Dizzee Rascal performing at the Electric Proms
Bonkers: Dizzee gets the crowd in the mood
Class act: Dizzee has made a mark on the music scene
If three No 1 singles in a row and an appearance on Newsnight weren’t enough proof that Dizzee Rascal has truly arrived, a prestigious invitation to perform with an orchestra at the BBC Electric Proms sealed the deal.
Dylan Mills of Bow dominated pop’s summer with his hits Bonkers and Holiday. In a Proms line-up that also includes Robbie Williams, Shirley Bassey and Smokey Robinson, right now he is the brightest star.
Used to performing with just a DJ and a fellow MC for company, at times he seemed unsure what to do with an absurdly overpopulated band that also included guitarists, a horn section, a small-scale male voice choir and Brinsley Forde of Aswad. Yet at the moments when
everyone pulled together in the same direction, their overpowering flow was irresistible.
Now in its fourth year, the Electric Proms always promises something different from the biggest names in pop and rock. Here, as has
happened too often, the string section was either underused or all but inaudible. Mills was certainly open to new things, however, offering fresh rapped lyrics to a rowdy cover of Nirvana’s Smells Like Teen Spirit, and clearly enjoying the crisp enunciations of the choir singing his introductory theme song, Jus’ a Rascal. Sporting box-fresh trainers so white they almost glowed in the dark, he said surprisingly little between songs considering what a motormouth he became when the music played.
To get through an opening flurry that included the cartoon fury of Road Rage and brand new song Live, Large ‘N’ In Charge, he must have taken an incredibly deep breath just before coming on and only inhaled again as he prowled into the slower menace of Jezebel.
It was his frantic, close to unhinged vocal style that added a tantalising edge to even his catchiest moments. Bonkers, with its believable boast: “All I care about is sex and violence/A heavy bassline is my kind of silence” illustrated its sentiments with a suitably deranged musical breakdown. The jolly Holiday still didn’t quite feel cuddly even as a Latin-style acoustic number.
This prickliness is what makes Dizzee Rascal the pop star so interesting. Quickly following disco favourite Dance Wiv Me with the queasy eastern chimes of early track Brand New Day, it was impossible to forget that he was an extraordinary teenage innovator long before he cosied up to the charts. Rather than selling out, the impression is that soon he plans to shock a bigger audience than ever.
Details are correct at the time of publication - please check with venue before booking.
watched the TV coverage of the gig. Great band, great choir, shame it was spoilt by monotone droning "rapping by Mr Rascal.
Just dont get it at all. All that arm waving and stuff. Totally unmusical in every way
- Al Stuart, ealing
“All I care about is sex and violence/A heavy bassline is my kind of silence”
What a charming notion.
- Miles, London
Best gig I've been too all year, 10 times better than the Jay-Z gig in September.
- Lee, London
