If there is one person across this land capable of filming semi-watchable gig footage on their cameraphone while gyrating wildly, then Fuse ODG’s TINA tour 2015 will find them.
Promoting his debut album TINA, titled after the acronym for his self-founded movement This Is New Africa, the British Afrobeats singer/rapper born Nana Richard Abiona is on a mission to revolutionise western impressions of Africa relative to those perpetuated by, say, Band Aid – the latest version of which Abiona controversially declined to be a part of on the basis of its facile lyrics. While parts of the continent are undoubtedly affected by poverty and conflict, Fuse figures it’s his duty to remind us that his experience of Africa also includes joy, music and dance. A simplistic notion itself, maybe, but certainly well-intentioned.
Starting considerably earlier than billed, you can tell Fuse is up for a party just from his outfit: a kilt and sporran paired with a patterned vest, kufi hat and a gold chain. His five-piece band are joined on a busy stage by a trio of backing singers and, occasionally, a couple of dancers waving Ghanaian flags – though born in Tooting, London, Fuse attended primary school in Ghana before completing secondary school in Mitcham. As Fuse and friends energetically meld west African dance rhythms with heavily accented raps and ravey David Guetta synths, there’s a do-as-you-see vibe: go like the clappers.
It’s hard so say what the night’s most filmed-on-phone-camera-while-gyrating-wildly moment may be. The choreographed dance routine accompanying Azonto, perhaps. Or the cameo from Tinchy Stryder during Imperfection? As Dangerous Love climaxes in a fit of mass jumping up and down and a slap bass solo, this entertaining frenzy of a show could perhaps only have ended one way: with Fuse filming himself and the audience on his cameraphone, while a mate stands by filming Fuse. This revolution, it seems, will be televised.
• At Motion, Bristol, on 1 April. Box office: 01179 723 111. Then at Koko, London, on 3 April. Box office: 020-7388 3222.
