Vital 2011 - Eminem
Main Stage, 9.20pm
Wednesday the 24th of August 2011
Describe in a Tweet: When you're this excited, you can only end up a little miffed, right?
What happened: One of the few remaining icons - a proper global superstar. Once a cartoon prankster, now a post-rehab pessimist. Three personas, seven albums, one critically acclaimed lead in a film and, for the next 90 minutes or so, he's all ours. Bangor, get ready! Or 'Belfast' we should say - that's where Eminem references throughout the set, deciding to round up to the nearest city rather than, you know, find out where he actually is.
Anyway, after we get over the initial drama that, you know, Eminem is quite literally standing a few metres away from Pickie Pool, it's a slow start. Even 'Cleaning Out My Closet' and 'The Way I Am' don't quite set the place alight - preachy and indulgent doesn't really get the party started. And that's the main problem throughout: the majority of Eminem's music is spiky and aggressive, and thus hardly ideal for a festival crowd.
It's therefore notable that the medley of 'My Name Is', 'The Real Slim Shady' and 'Without Me' get the biggest reaction of the night. These gems only serve to remind us how much fun Eminem was back at the turn of the century but, given they come with an almost apologetic introduction ('these were written back when I was wasted…') and are mashed up into a medley in the first place, prove Eminem has no intention of returning to the type of colourful hip hop many actually know him for. And that's such a shame, especially as the majority of tracks from his slightly dull current album Recovery are greeted with vague indifference.
That said, 'Lose Yourself', the most dramatic, aggressive track of them all, is actually the evening's highlight, sounding utterly remarkable, especially with a milked intro and an incredible live band. Not enough to save us from a slightly frustrating anticlimax, mind.
Lose Yourself: Always good to see a decent live band chip in when needed - 'Stan' especially benefits from this and is another highlight.
Guilt Conscience: Those visuals were just so lazy. When it wasn't the videos from whatever track being performed, it was stuff that looked like it had been rustled up using a Spectrum ZX.
Rating: 6/10
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