For those who have heard Epic Rap Battles of History (ERB) the name Nice Peter will be well known. For those who haven’t, the ERB’s are a series of music videos pitting many of the greatest historical and fictional characters of all time against each other. Together with Epic Lloyd (Ahlquist), Peter (Shukoff) has created numerous videos, their channel having almost 7 million subscribers at the time of writing.

I had been looking forward to this gig for some time and on arriving at Bush Hall I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of such a small venue. Beautifully decorated in the style of the Victorian dancehall, the only down side was the cans only policy to beer. Having sauntered around the venue my friend and I settled for a small balcony by the upstairs bar which overlooked the hall and stage. We could tell this was prime real estate and we spent the duration defending our territory. Having been a fan for some time now I was looking forward to Nice Peter using his ERB credentials to branch out on his own. Overcoming some technical difficulties with his acoustic guitar he used some Freddie Mercury inspired crowd interaction to open the set, playing his typically chirpy, upbeat brand of comedy music.

I wasn’t expecting to hear any of his Rap Battles performances so was pleasantly surprised when 3 songs in, he invited a member of the audience on stage to perform one with him. The joy however was short-lived, and as the sixth audience member stumbled their way through some pretty tough lyrics, so too did Peter, forgetting he did not actually rap his part in the original. Now call me old fashioned but I didn’t travel halfway across London to hear Jane and Joe Bloggs and their half arsed renditions of the Rap Battle back catalogue. A six pack and a laptop and I can Sing-a-long-a-YouTube within the comfort of my own home.

Following this drawn out and frankly painful spectacle Peter resumed playing his own material. A vault of his own material could now be unlocked to a willing audience. Playing Sunflower, a straightforward ode to the power of love and nurturing, he seemed to be increasingly drawing people in to his own music. Finishing on the energetic and on this occasion choral, Superman Socks, he left to much applause.

This is unfortunately where my biggest issue resides as he left after only 1 hour, and at 10pm a full hour before any venue curfew. Having wasted 30 minutes with Karaoke, he barely performed the same amount with his own songs. As a fan I was previously struck by his persistence, drive and need to be heard but tonight I was left feeling like a helpless bystander as a friend misses his best opportunity. I can’t believe his tour was financially motivated, I would doubt it covered his travel from the U.S. so why did he throw away this perfect opportunity to get his voice heard? I still urge you to find Nice Peter and the Epic Rap Battles of History on YouTube, we all need some light relief from time to time, and who’s to say on another night, in another place it wouldn’t be different.

Based on tonight’s performance however, I am left chewing over the words I so often heard growing up and as a child inwardly swore never to use, “I’m not angry at you, I’m just disappointed”.

Liam Hamblin

Gigslutz give a resounding thumbs up to Liam for this contribution, here’s to many more.