It’s a lovely summer’s day at Bristol’s Ashton Court Festival. The sun is out and so are the families who are here to enjoy the many delights of the festival ranging from finger painting to fairground rides. By the time Plan B comes on stage it is early evening and the kids are having their last go on the merry-go-round before their journey home. This is the last place you would expect someone to shout ‘cunt’ at the top of their voice through a microphone on stage, but it happens to the horror of middle class Bristol and the cheer of those who would wear white tracksuits, drink alco-pops and, let us say, generally run amuck. You really had to be there.

Coming on to Cliff Richard’s ‘Summer Holiday’, Plan B rips into the controversial ‘Kidz’ which is his “impression of hoodie-wearing kid with a knife”. Violent imagery and dirty words aside, ‘Kidz’ is the first of many tracks played tonight that are underlined by Mr. B’s strict moral tone. Although it seems that Plan B sees the world as a gritty and unsavoury place he claims that he is able to jump from aggressive subject matter, such as kids knifing other people, to love song ‘Charmaine’, which really isn’t as lovely as he first makes out.  

The shock tactics don’t stop there as he hurtles onto the latest single ‘Mama’, which goes on about his Mum doing it with a crack addict. Other unpalatable subjects such as raping corpses, genital warts, underage sex and paedophiles are also covered as well as a cover of Prodigy’s ‘Out of Space’, which really wasn’t his best moment. You could say that is isn’t light entertainment.

Shock factor aside, Plan B injects 100% into this live performance, which although is not entirely original (think really pissed off Eminem with a big potty mouth), is certainly captivating and scarily relevant. Although I’m not too sure what Mr and Mrs Clifton and their delightful brats made of it.    
(3/5)

Check for Live Dates  Photos: Simon Hoyle