Not many can say that they’ve reloaded a symphony orchestra. But as the Southbank Centre erupts after the opening horns of Gorilla, Little Simz has to run it back, starting the track again in the manner of a rowdy club set.
Backed by the majority Black and ethnically diverse Chineke! Orchestra and her own live band, Simz – closing out the 11-day Meltdown festival which she curated this year – performs a set that is equal parts genuine and genius. The energy in the room is overwhelming, overcoming any misgivings about performing to a seated crowd.
Songs of contrasting styles are played one after the other, to highlight the malleability not only of Simz as a performer but of the combination of the live band and orchestra. Young, with post-punk production and Mike Skinner-esque rapping, topples into Free, which is soulfully stripped back. The string players create a frantic, horror-film atmosphere for Thief and Flood, but immediately after, serve to make the “I love you” on Two Worlds Apart far more tender. This extends to word painting: on Introvert, the flutes invoke a choir (“I see sinners in a church”); vibrato strings mimic a voice trembling and breaking on Lonely, the raw, vulnerable track about her internal struggle with producing new album Lotus.
Joining her are Miraa May for Peace, longtime collaborator Obongjayar for Lion and Point and Kill, and Wretch 32 and Cashh for Blood. For the latter, Wretch emerges from the crowd and walks down through the stalls, clever staging since the song is structured as a phone conversation, forcing the audience to look between the two rappers like watching a tennis match.
At points, Simz feels larger than life, spectacular, replacing conductor Chris Cameron at the helm of the Chineke! Orchestra during Venom, rapping while facing the ensemble until the chorus, to frantic lights. Yet she’s chatty between songs, strolls the aisles during Heart’s on Fire, and stands beaming like a schoolgirl soaking in minutes-long applause. The whole experience is perfectly orchestrated – in every sense of the word.
