Friends & Family presents Grand Central’s 10th Birthday: Cargo, London 19 Mar 2005

Back in 1995 when the rest of Manchester was walking bow-legged and swearing a lot in honour of les freres Gallagher and the rest of the swaggering Britpop ensemble, Mark Rae started his own hip-hop label, Grand Central Records. It has gone on to become one of the UK’s most proficient and well-regarded labels, whose output has featured records by Aim, Only Child, Fingathing and Rae & Christian. Now ten years down the line, it’s birthday time.

Mark Rae is the headline act but the night is also about highlighting other exciting acts on the label. Boca 45, who released an album ‘Pitch Sounds’ last year, delivers a superb DJ set filled with obscurities, party tunes and deft control of the decks. He is followed by Q’n’C, the rap duo who have recorded with Rae & Christian and Aim and are about to release their debut album on Grand Central. Their rhymes are tight, delivery assured, though the track tends to get lost behind the roar of the bass and their raps. They perform Aim’s ‘No Time To Waste’ to huge cheers and get a good reception from the hyped-up crowd, though it not a great indicator of what the album will be like.

Then comes the main event, but as ever Mark Rae is far too generous to hog the stage by himself. He’s joined as ever by the voice of Grand Central, the stirring, soulful Veba, and by singer Pete Simpson. They play tracks from ‘Rae Road’ and ‘Into the Depths’ before leaving Rae to keep the party alive with a DJ set of classics from the old school and new. Here’s to another decade of quality hip-hop and soul.

words & photos: Colm Larkin

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