The Ipswich alt-rap artist blows the ceiling off of Sub 89!!
We were not familiar with Native James until researching this year’s Are You Listening? Festival. It is safe to say we were very excited by what we heard and put the rapper at Number 4 on our lesser known artists to watch list for the Saturday. You can smell a range of influences from the nu-metal of Linkin Park and Limp Bizkit through to old school rock leaning hip-hop like Cypress Hill. It goes right into full on metal at times. Opening up the Sub 89 stage at 2:30 in the afternoon was a potential landmine, but what unfolds quickly diffuses that potential explosion.
His backing band are out before him riffing away for the short intro of ‘RAISE THE ALARM,’ before Aaron James himself bounds out for ‘FALLEN’ and the decent sized Sub 89 crowd are already feeling it and bouncing along.
James asks the crowd for more and a decent mosh gets going. By the end he is impressed. “You guys are mental for 2:30. I think we’ll have to come back to Reading.”
The Rebirth EP from 2024 gives the double brilliance of ‘Hammer’ and ‘Power.’ The flow is consistently strong, the music is powerful. James holds the stage with ease. This is an artist who will comfortably hold venues far bigger than this one in the palm of his hand.
Thirty minutes is too short. We are all left wanting more. James leaps the barrier for the last track and encourages the crowd to new heights. The applause is wild. It may have been early but this was comfortably one of the best sets of the day. We will hold him to coming back to Reading.
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