Kae Tempest raps and recites, full of fire but with rare rhythmic mastery ★★★★☆

In a crowded Paradiso, Kae Tempest (36) takes the time for an introduction: ‘I’m going to release my new album The Line Is a Curve integral play. I don’t say anything between songs, so that’s what I’m doing now.’

It’s allowed with the London rapper and urban poet simply be named: the last time Tempest performed on this Amsterdam stage, Kae still called herself Kate, not yet ready to name his non-binarity. Now it is, although the term is not used.

‘I’ve been feeling really bad, but I’m fine now’ – and off we go, with only the great Japanese sound artist Hinako Omori on stage behind Tempest, a slender figure behind electronic equipment and keyboards.

Tempest’s presentation and Omori’s sounds underline that the designation ‘hip-hop’ is increasingly inadequate for what is happening here.

The melancholy No Prizes has a bare, ticking rhythm, beautifully covered by Omori with cool piano chords. Salt Coast and Move his bassy electropop, while These Are the Days rests on an electronic carpet that could have been woven by Tangerine Dream.

And Tempest? He raps, recites, full of fire but with rare rhythmic control. About loneliness and panic attacks, about the search for balance and acceptance, your own quiet place in the eye of the urban storm. And about love, poignant, in Grace.

After The Line Is a Curve some older or brand new pieces follow. Would a specially composed set list have been more exciting than an entire album performance as the main part? Perhaps.

“My sanity’s saved ’cause I can see your faces,” Tempest raps in conclusion. ‘I love people’s faces.’ And suddenly you know that it was good the way it was and that Tempest saw all our faces, about 1,500 in total, tonight.