Ah, yes. They were most definitely sound checking.
I made a mental note to pack some earplugs for later so as to not permanently damage my precious, youthful eardrums. Though I was already familiar with Joey Valence & Brae’s intense beats, something told me that I was not quite prepared for what was in store.
Newcastle University’s Students’ Union venue has a capacity of roughly 1,200, with most visiting musicians not yet breaking 1,000,000 - or even 100,000 - monthly listeners on Spotify. So, for Joey Valence & Brae - who amass almost 4,000,000 Spotify listeners every month - to grace the local venue, and for tickets to only cost £22.50, felt like a lottery win.
Doors opened at 07:00pm and I arrived punctually, greeted by a camera that was being flaunted by Joey Valence & Brae’s videographer, encouraging people to leave fun messages for them to reminisce on post-tour.
When I got down to the venue, the area in front of the stage had already filled up massively, with fans eagerly chatting amongst themselves and rapping along to the songs playing over the speakers in anticipation for the evening’s main show.
Before long, the support act of the evening, AG Club, arrived on stage at 08:00pm. The last time AG Club was in the UK was a long way from Newcastle… It was way back in 2022 in London for that year’s Wireless Festival. Despite their perceived anonymity in the UK, AG Club had one of the most engaged and dynamic crowds of the festival, and unsurprisingly their performance in Newcastle University’s Students’ Union was no different.
Jody Fontaine and Babyboy’s crowd control was unmatched; getting a full venue of people, who are mostly unfamiliar with your music, to follow your every movement was no challenge for this potent duo. From mosh pits, to chants, to even getting in the crowd themselves, AG Club did it all and undoubtedly departed the stage with a newfound fanbase in Newcastle.
In the final moments before the highlight of the night, Joey Valence & Brae had their DJ play a brief set featuring a concoction of techno, drum and bass, and other EDM genres to ensure that everyone was still hyped up and prepared for the duo’s grand reveal.
“JVB! JVB!...”
The crowd progressively got louder and louder in the build up to ‘HYPERYOUTH’, the titular track to Joey Valence & Brae’s latest album that was released towards the end of summer this year.
...music doesn't have to be serious all of the time...
The heavy bass following the line, “Guess who’s back motha f***a” made the crowd erupt into a sporadic sea of limbs. For anyone unfamiliar with JVB’s sound, this track encapsulated them perfectly. For the Pennsylvania-based pair, music doesn’t have to be serious all of the time; sometimes you’ve just got to get up and dance.
Joey Valence & Brae made a point of not slowing down tonight, as they jumped straight into ‘GIVE IT TO ME’ - another track from the HYPERYOUTH album that somehow bolstered a beat with even more weight than the song performed prior to it. The audience wasted no time getting into the set as there were already people twice my age having the time of their lives crowdsurfing.
We were straight into ‘BUST DOWN’, a song for all of you hip hop ‘oldheads’ out there. The instrumental of this track is fondly reminiscent of the iconic, ‘Frontin’’ from 2003, produced by hip hop and rnb legend, Pharrell Williams, just with a whole lot more energy and bass - which is to be expected from JVB.
The duo then transported the crowd back to PUNK TACTICS, their debut album, and the project that skyrocketed them into fame, with ‘HOOLIGANG’ and ‘STARTAFIGHT’. The album garnered attention from hip hop fans globally for witty pop culture references within their lyrics such as, “Shell shocked like a Koopa Troopa,” and, “I’m always going ham like a Lunchable”.
...peopled stacked on each other's shoulders and crowd surfing in every corner of the pit.
Fans were feeling brave; despite the small size of the venue and the insanely low ceilings, there were people stacked on each other's shoulders and crowd surfing in every corner of the pit. The duo onstage were on the lookout for any audience members who appeared to be struggling in the crowd, and wasted no time in asking the audience to pick people up if they fell over.
Everybody misses old school hip hop and it’s very obvious. ‘GO HARD’ samples the renowned instrumental from 1985’s ‘Planet Rock’ by Afrika Bambaataa, and the moment JVB played this track the crowd had the ground trembling.
Even after enduring an opening set full of mosh pits and chaos, as well as an EDM DJ set, and an entire 50 minutes of nonstop dancing during JVB’s performance, the audience still found the energy to show up and show out for the duo’s most popular song, ‘PUNK TACTICS’.
After Joey Valence & Brae rounded out their set with ‘DISCO TOMORROW’ and ‘THE BADDEST’, the audience poured out of the venue; some congregated around the merch stand, some flocked to the Wetherspoons that was mere metres above our heads for the last three hours, and some (myself included) headed home, and headed straight into bed.