A few months ago, a Polish hip hop group called WWO (pronounced vu-vu-oh) played at Cyprus Avenue on a Sunday evening. The published start time was 9pm but we all know that doesn’t mean shit, especially in Cyprus Avenue, which seems to be notorious for late starts. Anyways, my brother (who’s a mental hip hop fan) and I sauntered up to the door at around 9:30pm expecting to waltz in with the minimum of fuss. Heh, it was a Sunday evening and I wasn’t expecting much of a crowd for some unheard of Polish hip hop group. Au contraire my pretty ones, the place was jointed, it was like walking into downtown Warsaw! Eventually after the brother produced his passport (ah bless, like he’s only nineteen) and after forking over €20 each, which I reckoned was a bit rich for some obscure Polish rappers, we finally gained entrance to the said venue.

Inside, we hooked up with my brother’s Polish friends from work, who informed us that WWO are huge in Poland while we were listening to last few tracks of the support act, Sounds from the Hot Press. Eventually, after a long interlude, WWO took to the stage and after a few welcoming words in English they quickly reverted into Polish and it pretty much stayed that way for the remainder of the evening. It was obvious that the mostly Polish crowd were really enjoying the night although personally I thought the music was only ok but of course I didn’t understand a frickin’ word of the lyrics!

The night went well and it was interesting to be in the middle of such a large Polish crowd right in the middle of Cork city but it didn’t feel at all intimidating and everyone seemed nice enough. That said, one guy did invade the stage and attack one of the rappers and both of them and a security guard fell into the crowd during the ensuing scuffle, which was quickly joined by loads more bouncers. After a few brief minutes of madness, order was restored and the night resumed without incident. Although a few days later my brother told me that there was more trouble after the gig. Apparently, the guy who was thrown out went and got some of his buddies and attacked the band as they left Cyprus Avenue after the gig. More mayhem followed, guards arrived, people were arrested, you know, the usual. As far as I understand it, the Poles have their own east coast, west cost thing going on between Warsaw and Poznan. Ah well, some things never change.

Labels: Bands, Hip Hop

# Forged from the fiery depths by Pure Cork Boy.