Over the past twenty years, Shy FX has become a household name in the fields of both jungle and drum and bass. He has released over 350 tracks including ‘Shake Your Body’, which reached No. 7 in the UK Singles chart in 2002. He founded his own record label, Digital Soundboy Recordings, in 2005 and has also produced two tracks for Dizzee Rascal as well as remixing Plan B’s chart-smashing “She Said”. It therefore came as no surprise to see him given the prime 1-2 am slot for last week’s Hospitality Drum and Bass event at Leeds’ O2 Academy.
After the pounding bass of DJ and producer Wilkinson had sent the crowd into a frenzy, Shy played a few of his more recent works alongside some of themore famous releases from his extensive back catalogue, in the first half of his set. Tracks such as ‘Don’t Wanna Know’ and ‘The Message’ were well received by many a late night reveller. Interestingly, what was more impressive than the bass which reverberated through your heart at times was the junglist hip-hop beats that got the whole crowd moving. In addition, the sweet, soulful and lush vocals on many of the tracks provided the audience with yet another source of enjoyment.
However, what really distinguished Shy FX from all the other DJ’s that night was his decision to include tracks and samples by Bob Marley and UB40 around halfway through his set. This was met with almost universal approval and temporarily turned the evening from a club night into a gig. He ended his set with some of his more famous tracks including ‘Original Nuttah’ and ‘Everyday’ to keep the audience dancing away until past the scheduled two o’clock finish. Despite not really being a drum and bass fan, I really enjoyed watching his set. It was just a bit of a shame the other acts did not include as much variation to keep the crowd entertained throughout.