Over the last couple of years, Peckham legend, Giggs, has seen a sudden resurgence, thanks to a plethora of superb feature verses and the critically acclaimed ‘Landlord’ which featured the club bangers ‘Whippin’ Excursion’ and ‘Lock Doh’. This was part of the reason that the anticipation for this tour was so high, however, another reason is, the majority of Giggs’ career, he was unable to have his own headline tour, thanks mainly to the police stating it was too big a risk. Thankfully, due to a deeper, better understand and acceptance of UK rap, Giggs was able to put on the show that his fans deserves and he honestly went above and beyond my expectations as a huge Giggs fan.

The stage set up was hidden throughout the opening performance which featured, Blade Brown, Pressa, Joe Grind, Stoner and Black the Ripper and when that curtain dropped to reveal the theatrical set up, I was honestly pleasantly surprised. The play set was stylised to replicate his Landlord album cover, which was an estate block with many windows, and when Giggs came out to track ‘New Shit’ with fireworks and intense lighting, the sold-out arena was bouncing. Giggs began by performing tracks off the latest project, and during his performance, silhouettes appeared in the windows of people with absurd looking guns; people being intimate, and people drinking and smoking. At some points the window opened to reveal some disturbing and potent performances of people tied to chairs covered in blood, people behind bars desperately trying to escape and strippers. This was thoroughly entertaining and showed Giggs cared about putting an overall show, and wasn’t just simply performing his songs.

The most impressive thing about this concert was the sheer number of guests he brought out. I’ve already mentioned the amount of great feature verses Giggs has had recently and I have to mention the debated ‘KMT’ verse which got one of the biggest reactions of the night, even without Drake in the house. Drake was probably the only artist that didn’t turn up to do a verse, and Giggs proceeded to bring out big names such as Kano, 67, Lethal Bizzle, JME, CasisDead, Skrapz, Donaeo, Youngs Teflon, Aystar and Gunna Dee. Each artist maintained the energy and the fact Giggs could convince so many artists to perform is a testament to how respected he is in the scene.

My personal highlight was when Giggs performed some of his older music which instantly identified the old Giggs fans from the new. Songs such as ‘Pain is the Essence’ and ‘Love to make Gs’ brought back personal memories and was a great moment seeing these performed for the first time. However, songs ‘Look what the cat Dragged In’, ‘Monsta Man’ and, of course, ‘Talkin’ da Hardest’, got the biggest reactions, with the crowd screaming each track word for word.

However, the absolute banger of night was no shock. Giggs closed the show with the phenomenal ‘Whippin’ Excursion’ which was wheeled-up about 3 or 4 times just due to the chaos it caused in the audience. The roar of the first ‘Whippin Excursion’ was almost deafening and it was amazing to see how truly adored that song is.

Overall, it was a fantastic show and I will 100% be looking for the next headline show from this rap veteran.

GUAP Meter (Rating): Broke   Surviving     Stable       Rich         Balling