Friday 24/11/06 Akira The Don @ Wrongdevous, Liverpool

Having found it nigh impossible to get through the day without sticking on Akira’s ace debut album ‘When We Were Young’ since it came out earlier this month, I’ve been particularly looking forward to tonight's gig. But little did I expect that I’d be standing here with a sloppy grin on my face entranced by a beautiful leggy blonde, dressed up to the nines, striding around the stage…. But enough about Akira The Don - his backing singer Mary Turner, beclad in a little black Ballroom dress, is looking pretty fine too.

What a shame then, that practically all of the ‘Deltasonic Massive’ have cleared out of Liverpool Academy, having seen a Little Flames set which convinces only periodically. IDIOTS. But, at least there’s a few people here who know where it’s at, hanging over the barrier, singing back every rhyme as Akira The Don and his band launch into ‘Clones’. He responds in kind, beaming back at them as he bounces around, and soon the ‘Wrongdevous’ crowd show they’re not completely devoid of taste by moseying downstairs to check out this most idiosyncratic of British rappers.

Good call, because next up is single ‘Oh! What A Glorious Thing’, a Nico-sampling Daisy-Age slice of summery sing-a-long love-spreading. Akira and Mary keep the love-spread vibe going with a capella version of ‘Thanks For All The AIDS’ to the tune of The Kinks’ ‘Days’, before unleashing one of When We Were Young’s stand-out songs - complete with original Chris ‘Da’ Burgh sample. For some reason the mono-browed crooner refused Akira permission to use his music, because he considered the subject matter a little too “controversial”. What? Picking apart how the gaping wounds the West has inflicted on the world are given the odd token Bono-Geldof endorsed Band Aid every once in a while? All in the confines of a brilliant pop song? Now, if that ain’t a threat to our economy….

I lend next song ‘Hypocrite’, a well-pitched put-down to self lest such sentiments start sounding Bono-esque themselves, some well-placed hand-in-the-air-like-I-just-don’-t-care ‘Wuuuus’, but my goofy grin widens to even further as Akira again proves he really is a conduit of popular culture with a segue into George Michael’s ‘Freedom’.

I’m therefore seriously gutted when it’s announced that the next song will be our last. What! It’s only just started! But I guess you can’t blame them, wedged between a litany of other, dare I say it, less exhilarating, acts (Zane-****ing-Lowe is DJing later), has left them at a party with tragically few revellers.

Still, ‘Boom!’s a great last tune, and one which underlines why it’s such a shame Liverpool couldn’t reflect back a bit more of Akira’s love. With a tick beat, visceral chorus and splendorous sample of Elastica’s ‘Connection’ it contains all the ingredients to crossover more times than the proverbial chicken. Here it’s a fitting full stop – but his short and sweet set is more than enough evidence that there should be no stopping Akira The Don.