Gig review: Angel Haze, ABC, Glasgow
Angel Haze | Rating: *** | ABC, Glasgow
Her live set-up was stripped back to hip-hop basics – just her and her DJ, who kept the attentive but subdued crowd on side until Haze arrived with her canny mantra: “the more energy you give to me, the more energy I give to you”.
This was not an especially animated performance, as she half-heartedly serenaded a couple of audience members with some silky pop R&B, but she did get the crowd howling like wolves without much persuasion, and was afforded ample space when she clambered down into the midst of a respectful moshpit.
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Hide AdHaze can be a fairly ferocious rapper, occasionally verging on the shouty.
She was curt and jabbering on Working Girls and strangely unsettling when double-tracked on the spooky space age Detox.
But she’s also a soulful singer, harmonising with her recorded self on The Eulogy and injecting some pathos into the yearning Back to the Woods.
Throughout the trim hour-long set, her DJ offered up the dynamic combination of sultry backing tracks souped up with heavy bass drops. This was expertly produced hip-hop with crossover potential which just about transcended its simple, almost diffident presentation.