From the moment this quirky Cornish duo burst onto set with an eclectic combination of 80s-style electronic music and energetic moves, you know you’re in for something a little different. Hedluv and Passman are undoubtedly slick rappers, having played at Glastonbury four years ago and at the Gilded Balloon this time last year, and the songs they produce are well crafted and fun with a strong underlying beat.
The energy is provided almost entirely by Passman, whose flamboyant dancing suggests he either thoroughly indulges in the group’s songs, or he is permanently having some kind of fit. You get the impression he wants to launch into Queen’s ‘I want to Break Free’ any moment - he has a Freddie Mercury-inspired outfit to boot - whereas the act itself is far more reminiscent of Goldie Looking Chain. But it is Hedluv, playing the stooge, who is the more talented of the pair - certainly through the tunes he produces on the Casiotone, but also as lead rapper and occasional one-liner.
The show itself doesn’t always lend itself well to comedy - having a minute’s silence for Scatman John, for example, didn’t really work, and nor did a ‘Tone Poem’ provided by Passman’s drum - and we did somewhat get the feeling that a few of their mates had been planted in the audience to provide an ongoing laughter track. But where the performance does do well is in building successful rap tunes out of uninspiring themes - Cornish pasties, sitting on a beach, and Sat-Navs to name but three.
Be warned - there is audience participation late on where you are involved in the singing of Eiffel 65’s ‘Blue’ or ‘Scatman’ by Scatman John (despite their best efforts those two songs really don’t go well together, being originally performed as they are with different keys and tempo) and everyone is on their feet to portray cars in the Sat-Nav song.
If you want some late night comedy then don’t bother going to this - the hilarity levels never really rise above the levels of the sixth-form common room. If you enjoy well-crafted rap set to a strong tune and a thumping beat, however, you may have found your match.
