Live Review: REMI, Baro, Diola

The room was empty when Diola began her hour-and-a-half DJ set and stayed pretty much the same way throughout. Still, she showed a verve springing from a clear love of music as she blended R&B and hip hop seamlessly. Those there got a glimpse of a fantastic mix complete with classics and a few more obscure tracks. Alas, this was a party of not many more than five.

Baro drew a stronger crowd with an engaging nonchalance as he meandered around the stage. Travelling Through Time was a revelation of cool, an amalgamation of a downtempo beat, a smooth sax sample and meditative lyrics. See Less contained chest-shaking sub-bass that washed out the piano sample as the backing track but the groove was real. I Never Meant To Hurt You was a slight departure from previous songs with heavy language and content, a confessional love rap with witty and real lyrics and a catchy refrain: "Am I dreaming, am I dreaming? You got me feeling for that feeling..." that drew the crowd in.

REMI has a powerful stage presence that fills any space he's in. His bouncy demeanour whipped the Newtown Social audience into as much of a frenzy as they could muster on a Thursday night. Though this was far from the lovefest seen at Newtown Social the last time Kolawole came to town, the show was solid. He rolled through songs on his new album, Divas & Demons including his collaboration with Baro, Hate You, an introspective reality check in which Kolawole dominated. While he was missing Jordan Rakei in his live performance of a recent collaboration on Lose Sleep, he sang with promise and this didn't detract from the words he spat in the verses. Missing Sampa The Great on For Good was tough but the upbeat groove helped us to forget. All in all, Kolawole brought his A-game in spite of the absence of some powerful cameos featuring on the album.