J. COLE | LIVE REVIEW
Motorpoint Arena Cardiff, Fri 20 Oct
It seems like he just can’t stay away from our fair city. Making his fourth visit to Cardiff tonight is Grammy-nominated, platinum-selling artist JCole with his 4 Your Eyez Only tour. Like any good hip-hop artist, it would seem he likes to substitute them S’s with Z’s, which he does quite often. Bad grammar aside, the Motorpoint Arena crowd are pumped tonight and eager to see one of hip-hop’s hottest properties do his thing.
An impressive stage set resembles the exterior of Alcatraz with a prison door in the middle. It’s through those prison gates that Cole emerges, after being released by a guard. Noticeably hairier than last time we saw him, and wearing an orange boiler suit, the already rabid crowd go wild as he powers straight into For Whom The Bell Tolls – which, as it turns out, isn’t the Metallica cover I was hoping for. Nevertheless, Cole continues with Immortal, mirroring the order of the 4 Your Eyez Only album.
Cole’s talent lies in the delivery of his thought-provoking lyrics, and his intensity and connection with the crowd is what separates him from the rest. New material is very well received, and nestles nicely alongside established tracks like Love Yourz and Wet Dreamz, both from the 2014 Forest Hills Drive album. It’s not very often that you see a set where the crowd respond to every track, but that’s exactly what we got tonight. Like a hip-hop keep fit instructor, J. Cole demands participation from his crowd and they gladly accept.
G.O.M.D prompts a mass singalong and No Role Modelz, with its thinly veiled shot at the American government, closes an energetic set and an exhausted, but happy-looking crowd slowly disperse. I was exhausted just watching, but I’m already looking forward to my next workout.
words CHRIS ANDREWS photos TIM ALBAN
