Kojey Radical's Unforgettable Night at the Royal Albert Hall

It’s easy to forget that Kojey Radical has been making music for some twelve years. It’s as though he has always been present, exploring the facets of his multidisciplinary personality through art, music, fashion, poetry and visual arts. It therefore feels overdue that the Royal Albert Hall should set the stage for his biggest show to date.

With a staircase leading up to a singular framed blue door centre stage, along with an impressive band, Kojey came on, announcing “This means so much to me” before hailing Arsenal’s recent Premiership win with the word “Campeonessss!!” and opening with Rotation, from his latest project, Don’t Look Down. 

The audience steadily warmed up during the earlier part of the set, as Kojey ran through tracks like Pressure, Reason to Smile and Born featuring a guest appearance from Cashh, who wasted no time in getting the crowd riled up to top-tier energy levels.

In the live arena, Expensive took on a much more club-orientated rhythm and sound, thanks to the incredible playing by the band. In fact this became a hallmark of the overall sound, where songs took on a much more robust, muscular soundscape in the hands of these skilled musicians Kojey had assembled. 

Cashmere Tears, the song that in Kojey’s words “changed my life”, and an undoubted crowd favourite had almost the entire Albert Hall audience up on their feet, it’s irresistible 80s soul sound translating to this arena beautifully (he later informed the audience that he wrote it following the death of his good friend, the model Harry Uzoka).

Reflecting on the last year, Kojey recounted “I had the most difficult twelve months of my life, and I was in a dark place. Depression is a very real thing and it feels like it’s never gonna leave,” citing this as the genesis of Can’t Go Back, a song I am sure every fan in the room has wanted to hear. He attacked the lyrics with every ounce of his being, involving the audience in call and response and turning on some big moves centre stage.

Following the gloriously brass-heavy Nappy, his DJ ripped through a medley of classic grime instrumentals (think the legendary Ruff Sqwad’s output), Kojey grabbing the opportunity to spit bars over the instantly recognisable cuts. He’s an undeniable force, blessed with an incredible speaking and singing voice, stage presence and ability to move around the stage with consummate ease. 

The band’s tight instrumentation gave Kojey’s tracks an elastic cohesiveness reminiscent of the legendary funk bands. Even from my place in the seated stalls, I was surrounded by people who chanted choruses at every opportunity, and were not shy in being up their feet whenever a favorite track dropped. 

We’ve been spoilt recently by artists bringing on guests in recent years, to the point where gig-going folk are disappointed if an artist doesn’t bring them on, but Kojey patterned up a ridiculous number: Mahalia during Water, Jaz Karis (his support act) on Comfortable, MNEK for Drinking My Water, Cristale on for Problems and James Vickery during the chorus of On Call. Wretch 32 and Shakka came on to perform with him on Beautiful, to a huge reception. This trio’s chemistry was as obvious on stage as it sounds on the record.

That blue door continued to be a great device, not least when Ezra Collective bound through to perform No Confusion with their horns on full blast, encapsulating their joyful sound. “It’s a magical door,” Kojey reflected afterwards, “you never know who’s coming through”.

Kojey finished off with Gangsta, giving a shoutout to his mum. He wasn’t offstage for very long either, despite sections of the audience already chanting his first name to encourage him back on. 

Finishing off with Payback as his encore, through the now familiar blue door came the track’s producer, Swindle waving to the audience like a gameshow contestant and armed with a huge white guitar-shaped keyboard reminiscent of something you’d expect of the late Prince. The crowd understandably lost it, completely immersed in the heavyweight funk of a track with yet another big chorus, just when you thought they might have run out of bounce. It was the perfect way to finish, as Kojey bounded into a delighted audience, ready to celebrate with him up close.

Kojey’s way of seeing the world has always struck a chord with those who have spent enough time with his music, and this show demonstrated yet again his unique way of articulating themes such as love, loss, depression, strength and latterly fatherhood.

Kojey spoke candidly about not being able to tour the latest album because it didn’t chart “broke me”, it happening during stuff going on in his personal life at the time. Having expected to line up festival and UK dates (“I was doing tours on Soundcloud numbers.”), he says it took him a long time to recover from the setback. This kind of honesty is not the usual between-song repartee, and sets Kojey apart from other rappers who would prefer to gloss over life’s less shiny moments. 

“I might not do this again,” he tells the audience, conscious of the legendary arena he’s in and whether he’ll ever get to play on such a stage in future. “I might not perform these songs again.” On the strength of this performance and the audience response, there can be no doubt he will most definitely do this again.