Review: Norfolk Spectacular featuring N-Dubz, Tinie Tempah, Taio Cruz, Labrinth, Tinchy Stryder & More!

This weekend saw the arrival of a new music festival to the East – the Norfolk Spectacular. A line-up of many of the top acts in the UK’s rap, hip hop and R&B scene drew crowds in their thousands to the Norfolk Showground on each day, rain failing to dampen the spirits of both the crowd and the performers!

Tinie Tempah
Photo by Chloe Peek

The Sunday main stage show was opened by new up and coming London girlband, Stooshe, who, despite not being very well known yet, managed to really get the crowd going and left everyone eagerly waiting for the next performer, Yasmin.
Yasmin performed a set for about 20 minutes, featuring her singles ‘Finish Line’ and ‘On My Own’, as well as ‘Runaway – Part 2’ her own version of the song she originally recorded with Devlin, ‘Runaway.

Maverick Sabre followed with his Summer tour set, his new single ‘Let Me Go’ proving to be a huge hit with the crowd. The highlight of his set was his cover of Oasis’ ‘Wonderwall’ with the crowd singing along to all of the lyrics and creating an amazing festival atmosphere.

Succeeding Maverick Sabre came Tinchy Stryder, who everyone in the crowd seemed to love. He performed a range of his hits, including ‘You’re Not Alone’, ‘Take Me Back’ and ‘Never Leave You’, as well ‘Number 1’, for which he told everyone to ‘put your ones in the air’ and had everyone dancing along. ‘Let It Rain’ has everyone singing along, however perhaps the lyrics were not the most appropriate for the day, as soon after the song finished, it began to pour with rain, soaking everyone!

Labrinth
Photo By Chloe Peek

Labrinth performed next, the crowd dancing along to him in the pouring rain. He ended the set with his single ‘Let The Sun Shine’ and thankfully the lyrics had the effect of the song name!

Devlin followed Labrinth, performing a few songs from his album, as well as popular single ‘Runaway’ which was the highlight of his set, the whole crowd singing along to choruses, proving to be an excellent end to his set.

Next came the 3 performers which everyone was looking forward to the most. The first of this was Taio Cruz, who performed all of his singles, including ‘Like A Star’, ‘Break Your Heart’ and ‘Higher’, concluding with ‘Dynamite’, which made the crowd go crazy and left everyone eagerly anticipating the next performer.

Tinie Tempah’s DJ came on stage next, whipping up a set of about 10 songs which all linked into one another, ending finally with ‘Barbara Streisand’, for which the lyrics were changed to ‘Tinie Tempah’. Tinie Tempah then took to the stage, opening with ‘Frisky’, which had everyone in the crowd jumping along. He also performed ‘Miami 2 Ibiza’, ‘Hitz’ and ‘Wonderman’, in which Tinie got the crowd to put their hands up in the air in the shape of a W. He also performed his newer song ‘Love Suicide’ for which he taught the crowd the chorus and asked everyone to sing the choruses whilst he rapped the verses, encouraging everyone to get out lighters and camera lights to wave in the air. Tinie Tempah declared the Norfolk Spectacular ‘the best show I have done in a long time’, before leaving the stage. As soon as he left, crowds began chanting for an encore, and back Tinie came to the stage to perform his hit ‘Pass Out’.

N-Dubz
Photo by Chloe Peek

N-Dubz concluded the day with a set that lasted well over an hour, with all of their singles and many other songs. Dappy performed his single ‘Spaceship’ and ‘No Regrets’, and the band explained to the crowd that this was going to be their last performance as N-Dubz for the next 12 months as all of the band members are going solo for a year. With all of the band members getting a little emotional, the set began to drew to a close with Fazer playing the piano, Tulisa said that she felt that they needed to lift up the crowd and the band after feeling sad that this was the last performance for the last year, and so the band burst into ‘Number 1’ which had everyone jumping and singing along. They followed this with a piano version of ‘Best Behaviour’, in which everyone could see just how talented the new X Factor judge, Tulisa, is. As the band’s set drew to a close, Tulisa told everyone that there was no need to worry about whether or not N-Dubz would be returning, saying that N-Dubz had been together for 12 years and so a 12 month break wouldn’t affect anything. The band returned to the stage for an encore, which was an excellent end to a very good festival.

Review by Chloe Peek
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