Lady Sovereign operates on hip-hop time, so it's compulsory for her to be an hour late for this low-key comeback show, at - oddly enough - a swanky private club. Not only do her fans not mind waiting (it probably helps that there's free booze, laid on by the soft-drink company sponsoring the gig), but when Lady Sovereign does appear, they greet her with possessive joy. It seems that, after a foray to America that ended in depression, self-harm and being dropped by her label, this crowd are just happy to have their Wembley girl home.
The bite-sized MC makes it clear she's happy to be back, yelping: "Fucking free bar! Let's do this shit." And she certainly does do it. Sovereign, aka Louise Harman, may never recapture the next-big-thing status that was briefly hers in 2007, but she still packs a punch. She's moved on from the B-girl grime of her first album, Public Warning, to something distinctly poppier, but it's fierce pop that's heavy on both bass and attitude.
She rolls out the verses with trainer-shod feet planted far apart and head tilted back, pugnaciously watching us through bug-eyed white sunglasses. There are no profundities in these songs, most of which come from new album Jigsaw - some of the lyrics are as banal as: "I'm weird, you're weird/ Let's be mates" and "I'm so human/ It's okay." But Sovereign spits them out swaggeringly, over crunching beats, and the hook lines are so moreish that every number feels like a hit.
While the material is great, it's harder to relate to Harman herself. The 23-year-old is all teenage bristling belligerence and chippiness, but when she cracks a smile at the end and says she loves us, the audience make it clear the feeling is mutual.
