It is no mean feat for a rap duo to be revered by both critics and the public alike, but that is exactly what Run The Jewels are. Arriving in Glasgow’s O2 Academy for the final night of their ‘Run The World’ tour, Killer Mike and El-P went out with the biggest of bangs – and RIOT was there to witness it.
After Danny Brown had raucously opened the proceedings, RTJ walked out beneath a hanging golden shrine to their trademark logo, to a rapturous Glaswegian crowd – who themselves had formed a sea of ‘fist and gun’ hand gestures in welcoming their heroes to the stage.
Wasting no time, Queen‘s ‘We Are the Champions’ rang out before RTJ3‘s lead single, ‘Talk to Me’, seamlessly took the reins. This was followed swiftly by two more efforts from their latest album in ‘Legend Has It’ and ‘Call Ticketron’, before Killer Mike issued a fairly straightforward warning prior to ‘Blockbuster Night Part 1′: “Make sure if you’re crowd-surfing you don’t kick nobody in the motherfuckin’ head”.
Stopping for only a second to reflect that this was indeed their “last show of 2017”, blasts from the past came in RTJ2‘s ‘Oh My Darling Don’t Cry’ and ’36” Chain’ from their debut studio album, before another couple of hits from their most recent in the form of ‘Stay Gold’ and ‘Don’t Get Captured’. Moving on with a relentless pace came ‘Panther Like a Panther (Miracle Mix)’, ‘Nobody Speak (DJ Shadow cover)’ – which was a real highlight of the show for all who witnessed it – and ‘Pew Pew Pew intro’.
El-P then took a moment to once again applaud the atmosphere inside Glasgow’s O2 Academy as he proudly claimed, “I haven’t taken my jacket off the whole tour until Glasgow!” – much to the delight of the moshing masses. Continuing their crowd-pleasing streak came a triple threat of tracks representing each of the duo’s three studio albums, as ‘Close Your Eyes (And Count to Fuck)’, ‘Hey Kids (Bumaye)’ and ‘Sea Legs’ kept the party going.
After ‘A Report to the Shareholders’ came ‘Thursday in the Danger Room’ and a heartfelt message from Killer Mike about dealing with the loss of friends and family before ‘Down’, closing with: “I promise you a better day is coming, we are Run The Jewels”.
The pair then left the stage fleetingly, before bounding back on to an encore of ‘A Christmas Fucking Miracle’, before bidding farewell to their ‘Run The World’ tour with a rather apt celebration of ‘Run the Jewels’.
Words by Jonno Mack
