McFilter

Two legendary acts in Liverpool in as many months! And I almost missed the Sugar Hill Gang. It was only because I spotted a tweet from my friend Dan Lynch saying that he was setting off for the gig that I knew they were playing at all. I hadn't been planning to go out on Thursday evening - in fact I had some work lined up - but I used the temptation of an evening out watching the first ever rap act to spur me onto getting the work done in record time and then wandered down to The Masque.

Luckily there were still some tickets on the door, and I was inside early enough to catch all of the support acts. Last time I went to a rap/grime event, down in Cambridge a few years back, the ability levels weren't all that amazing, so when I heard the local accents of Nicky Talent and Innuendo I was fearing something similar. Thankfully I was wrong, they were both good and set the bar for the rest of the evening.

The next act, or should I say collective - there were I think eleven of them on stage! - The Elementals were even better, rapping over live brass and throwing in the odd ska influence. Their myspace page doesn't do them justice at all (you need to get some songs up there boys, not just a couple of youtube videos!) and if want to catch them they're playing the HUB Festival tomorrow.

We then went from a packed stage to a solo artist armed only with his voice and a loop machine. Petebox is an amazing beatboxer. After the usual sorts of beatboxing he then introduced the loop machine which let him build up songs in front of us by laying down separate parts which were looped and played back. His version of Basement Jaxx's Where's Your Head At was amazing.

And the main act? They were amazing. They might've been in the business for over three decades but their energy levels on stage and obvious enjoyment come through as if it was their first gig. The buzz from the crowd when they dropped Apache was superb, and seeing them perform the first recorded rap song, Rapper's Delight is just indescribable. Big Bank Hank wasn't with them for some reason, but Wonder Mike and Master Gee rock.