Showhawk Duo, Mama Roux’s, Birmingham - review

By this point, the pretty active audience had already freestyled their way through Gala’s Freed From Desire, vamoosed throughout Culture Beat’s Mr Vain and danced the mambo to Dick Dale’s Misirlou.

Eclectic doesn’t quite cover it.

It started with something equally fun. Support act Benji and Hibbz had rapped over the top of ska and rock beats like a younger Karl Phillips with few cares in the world.

It was brilliantly tongue-in-cheek, especially when they threw out their garage (and other things) megamix – we can safely say we have never heard So Solid Crew’s 21 Seconds turn into Rage Against The Machine’s Killing In The Name Of before.

And when they treated the audience to a stand-off between their guitarist and saxophonist more zany than that banjo duel that starts Deliverance, people were well into the zone.

Our headliners became huge YouTube stars with live footage of their performances. Asanovic and Jake Wright create medleys, often sandwiching three different trance hits between two slices of one anthem, creating the kind of mesmerising sandwich not even the snobs on Masterchef could turn their noses up at.

The hits of the 90s and '00s made up their set, and they had no need for vocals when the crowd took over karaoke-style. We had what looked like a group on an office outing next to us us who did not stop for the whole performance, which added to the atmosphere.

Alice DJ’s Better Off Alone, SASH!’s Ecuador and Energy 52’s Café Del Mar all got the acoustic treatment, and 99 per cent of what they did hit the mark – the odd interlude sometimes felt a little crowbarred.

In particular, their rendition of trance super-hit Silence by Delerium and Sarah McLachlan was exceptional. You can see why they earned a residency at Ibiza superclub Pacha with this stuff.

Benji and Hibbz re-joined the fray for a riotous mash-up which included Gangsta’s Paradise, Let Me Blow Your Mind, Real Slim Shady and In Da Club, which had everyone gyrating like that uncle trying to fit in at their niece’s birthday party.

And they finished with the trio that initially made them famous via mobile phone footage. And it seemed everyone wanted their own version of that video judging by the amount of phones out as they smashed through Faithless’ Insomnia, Kernkraft 400’s Zombie Nation and Darude’s Sandstorm to the screams, whoops and whistles of their crowd.

This would have been an insanely wild blast on a Saturday night with nobody thinking about work in the morning. Catch them when they are next in town for a truly different take on the Ibiza club life.