Most people who know me, know I live a pretty hectic and crazy life, I am never in the same spot for more than an hour and my blackberry is my life, without it I can’t operate, my life is controlled by one device. Last Friday (24/05/2011) I had the privilege of going to see a real soul legend, the wonderful and delightful Sade.

Sade is so low key it is unbelievable and very rarely tours and even rarer are any media interviews. Trust me I tried and I was told it would be easier to get an invite to the Royal wedding than to have 10minutes with Sade, now that is how low-key this lady is!

“She still around is she?” someone said, when I said she was coming to the Arena. No Gaga-style gimmicks to keep the hype train going for Sade.

This modern day soul legend made her name when Madonna was still ascending to pop’s throne, with songs as redolent of Rolexes and Filofaxes as they were of bedsits and lonely streets, this is in the 80′s when I was still rolling around in nappies. She then withdrew to the countryside, leaving a 10-year gap between her ‘comeback’ album Lover’s Rock, which has to be probably some of her greatest work and her latest relaease, Soldier Of Love.

This soul singer  last toured in 2001 – which seems to be doing the 50m selling artist good, this gig was sold out and she was playing an arena and not many artists from the 80′s are able to do that in 2011. Her evocative voice, as powerful as it is unique, rises like blue smoke above an audience that welcomes her with thunderous applause.

She needed to get warmed up first, opening the show with Soldier Of Love. Afterwards, a broad smile wreathing her feline features, she said: “It’s been too long, and we have only a short time to make up for all the time we’ve wasted.” For me that was it, I was hooked, her soft voice was mesmerising and she had me and the 10,000 plus others in the arena in the palm of her hands, many of whom have been hooked ever since they first heard a Sade record.

As the set continued with Skin and Love Is Found, the fans were reminded that Sade is not just its eponymous singer, but a great band that effortlessly blends R&B, jazz, reggae, rock and Latin flavours.

A noirish voiceover and video backdrop of moody, neon-lit cityscapes hailed the signature Smooth Operator, with its easy swinging rhythms and sax lines. This marked the point when a good performance became a brilliant one.

Sade’s voice, undimmed by time, soared as she performed Jezebel, the perfect piece for her elegant, aching singing style. In black and white, in the big screen above the stage, she referenced Billie Holiday in a white blouse, working perfectly in tandem with a bluesy, moaning sax. Is It A Crime, which kept building up then returning to a torchy refrain, was another star performance.

The slender singer has a unique ability to paint pictures with her voice, and although at times the giant video backdrops threatened to dwarf her, they complemented the mood; a stark landscape of bare trees, and the summery snaps that accompanied After All Is Said Done, reflecting the mood.

No Ordinary Love, King Of Sorrow and Pearls also sparkled. Cherish The Day, with its trip-hop pulse, ended a masterclass in making up for lost time, when leaving the arena I looked around and people were walking with a big smile on their face, like they had been privilege to something unique and probably, most likely will never see Sade on UK shores again.

I would highly recommend the new release and also the ultimate collection cd, it has been on constant rewind in my car since Friday. Ms. Sade…. Thank you!

Many thanks to Rob @Sony and Ben @Marshall-Arts

Ever since Cassie became P.Diddy’s girl, I really did go off her however she is looking very hot in black and white when attending Carol’s daughter event…

The long summer nights are well and truly here, we at Ten 8ty Four towers are loving it, after work drinks and late night barbeques just pure chilling and this is a real favourite track of ours, courtesy of Giles Peterson, thank you good sir!

Remember Fonzworth Bentley? No? Way back at the turn of the century he was employed as Diddy’s personal assistant which seemingly involved a lot of wielding fancy umbrellas, wearing knee-high tweed knickers, riding unicycles, growing handle bar mustaches and doing similar such old timey activities. Well, proving the theory that everything in existence will eventually end up on the internet, today Bentley quietly drops his long awaited (by someone) rap full length C.O.L.O.U.R.S. on his Mr. Bentley website (in case you had mistook him for one of those imposter Fonzworth Bentleys). Presumably this material was recorded for Kanye‘s G.O.O.D. imprint around 2007 and then scrapped a few years later as Yeezy unceremoniously dropped his entire roster in favor of flying just half of the Clipse to Abu Dhabi

Stream the whole tape or individual tracks from his website or else try and deal with Bentley’s beyond confusing mix-and-match download system that involves both iTunes purchases and freebee download wishes that are granted in exchange for a valid email address.

I don’t think I need to say anything apart from enjoy…..

As the Easter bank holiday weekend gets in to full swing all people are thinking of is BBQ’s, partying, drinking and…..more partying! Nothing will get them more into the vibe than Mr Frank Ocean who I heard back in February possibly January, not too sure on Nick ‘Grimmy’ Grimshaw’s radio 1 show. This guy is sick and is going to blow up big this year. He has done a cover of MGMT’s track Electric Feel which wasn’t too bad to be fair but this is even better!

Enjoy this people my track for the sunny day!

People go an download his album called Nostalgia, Ultra – SICKNESS!!!

I heard this track last week and absolutely fell in love with it, this is going to be on constant rewind this summer!

Freeway Ricky Rozay jumps on this new Estelle cut from the get-go delivering some smooth Maybach wordplay over what reminds us of a G-funk era beat. Estelle holds it down for the double x-chromosome team with her soulful questioning of (some) dudes’ sketchiness. Always so nice to see some Anglo-American love. This puts me in a very good mood!

Those of you who are massive fans of soul music and understand this is a track that defines the end of disco and the beginning of what became known as balaeric. This track sums up summer for me

Enjoy….

It seems things have changed considerably in the fashion industry, Elle has put a female rapper on their front cover…. I mean what is the world coming to. I am still not sure on what this artist is about I absolutely hate her fashion sense but some of her tracks are okay. At the end of the day she ain’t no Missy Elliot, Sade or Mary j Blige…

When I thought about writing this post, I wasn’t quite sure what category would define this.. is it music or icon. Judging by the title, I went with Icon. Pete Tong and his music on BBC Radio 1 has been apart of my life since I was about 10 years old. This week he celebrates 20 years on BBC Radio 1, he joined the station in 1991 when I was just 6 years old and this man has single handedly defined and shaped what dance music has become. Some bloke called Pete Tong, Nicky Holloway, Danny Rampling and Paul Oakenfold brought to the masses in the UK music from the white isle known as Ibiza.

I have had the privelege to meet Pete Tong on a number of occasions and also interview him, one distinct memory was the first time I went to  Ibiza and my friends and I was sat outside Cafe Mambo, he walked from one side of the beach to Cafe Mambo and he was literally mobbed, the amount of people who wanted pictures with him was incredible, it took him almost 40 minutes to walk a part of the beach that should take you no longer than 10minutes at the max! If it wasn’t for this guy there would be no Radio 1 in Ibiza, he was the official start to what always used to be a great start to an crazy weekend at Cafe Mambo and you know people the weekend wouldn’t begin until Pete Tong uttered four very famous words “Welcome to the weekend!” – For me that was it the weekend had offically begun on a Friday evening at 6pm, no matter what had happened in the week, you know all would be good when Pete Tong would be on Radio 1, Friday nights 6pm!

Peter “Pete” Tong (born July 30, 1960) is an English DJ who works for BBC Radio 1. He is known worldwide by fans of electronic music for hosting programs such as Essential Mix and Essential Selection on the radio service, which can be heard through Internet radio streams, for his record label FFRR Records, and for his own performances at nightclubs across the globe. Tong has also worked as a record producer.
The phrase “It’’s all gone a bit Pete Tong”, where the name is used as cockney rhyming slang for “wrong”, was reputedly first coined by Mark Radcliffe. However, on his show of 28 November 2005, Mark Radcliffe credited his erstwhile sidekick Marc “Lard” Riley with inventing the term. It’’s All Gone Pete Tong is also the title of a 2004 film which portrays a DJ’’s experiences as he realises he is becoming deaf. Tong appears briefly in the film as himself.

A very young Pete Tong when he first began on BBC Radio 1

In honour of Pete Tong’s 20 year anniversary, Radio 1 are celebrating his two decades on the air with a 12-hour takeover on Friday April 8th. As well as a countdown of Radio 1 listeners’ Top 20 Dance Tracks and Tong’s first Essential Mix since 1995, there will be the airing of a 3-hour tribute from a number of artists he has helped champion over the years.

Recorded at the Maida Vale Studios, there is a worthy eclectic mix of artists, each very appreciative to be given a slot on Tong’s anniversary show. Chase & Status used the occasion to promote their new single ‘Time’ featuring Deliah; their set laden with heavy baselines including the Nero Remix of ‘Crush on You’ and their own monster hit ‘Blind Faith.’ Charlie XX joined Alex Metric and Kele Okereke joined the woeful Martin Solveig (he mixed electro into dubstep into pop before singing) for performances of new singles before Chilly Gonzales set the place alight with his skills on the piano, albeit strangely wearing a dressing gown and promising to “hold a grudge like a rabbit holds its crotch.”

As the beers flowed for the 100 or so crowd of competition winners, artists and hangers-on, Guy Gerber took to his Mac and delivered a 25-minute set of uplifting but relentless techno including his track with Ryan Crosson ‘Time For A Change.’ The Israeli DJ had flown in especially for his brief set, highlighting the respect held for Tong in the industry. Groove Armada closed by smashing through a b2b mini-mix of classics from the last 20 years including ‘Hey Boy, Hey Girl’, ’3 Drives’ and Ettiene de Crecy’s ‘Prix Choc.’

His knowledge of the scene and credibility within the industry continues to make his show an essential Friday night listen. Friday week should prove a fitting tribute to the DJ; just make sure you’re not in the bath when Solveig comes on as the urge to nibble on the toaster may be too strong.

Pete has become so iconic in dance music that there was a film made with his name in the title and was sort of a homage to how this man resides in the hearts of the many people he has touched with the music he has championed over the past 20 years.

This guy has probably single handedly made dance music what it is today and for me what will always stick in my memory are the Ibiza Radio 1 days of 1997-1998-1999, where all of Radio 1 literally went out to Ibiza for a week and just fucked it up so badly that Radio 1 in ibiza would never be the same!

Pete Tong, thanks for the memories “We salute you, Sir!”