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KANO LONDON GIG – CANCELLED

Following tip offs London’s Scala has had to comply with the request of the Metropolitan Police to shut down the venue on Thursday 27th October and therefore cancel Kano’s sold out show.

METROPOLIS MUSIC STATEMENT

We have been instructed by the police that we cannot go ahead with the Kano concert at the Scala on Thursday 27th October.

The police have acquired intelligence that unsavoury characters intended to cause trouble at the concert. This intelligence was received from Operation Trident.

The police have stated that this is no reflection on Kano and have had no problems at previous events that he has performed at in London

There are no plans to reschedule the show at this time and customers are advised to obtain a refund at point of purchase.

Metropolis Music

Statement from Kano:

“I have performed in London practically my whole career and there have never been any problems. It’s where I started out and for me there’s no better place to perform. It’s a shame that on my first ever UK tour I am unable to play to my home town. I am sorry for my fans that the show couldn’t happen this time round. I’ll be back.”

I've written about this before, with most profile in the NME, but it's the case that ever since the shooting outside the Romeo Birthday Bash at Astoria in 2001 there's been a rumour that the Metropolitan Police have a garage blacklist, used to pre-emptively shut down garage events in Westminster, depriving grime MCs of a vital revenue stream.

In fact this is probably a factor why proto-grime was forced out of clubs and onto radio, and why - freed from the dancefloor - it was able to evolve so experimentally.

But pre-emptive club closing in an entire borough? Surely that's descrimination not just against a major-backed MOBO winner but a whole social group.