Party like it’s 1989 (to 1995…)

Coolio

There’s something about dance music of the early 1990s that sees it treading a fine line between naff and credible, and ‘I Love The 90s’ which recently toured our shores, featured a host of acts whose tunes tippy-toe that very line every time.

Salt N Pepa, Vanilla Ice, Tone Loc and Coolio were just four of the many artists who featured in ‘I Love The 90s’ which enjoyed practically sell-out gigs across the country. It’s as though the millennium hadn’t even hit – judging by the way punters were getting down to the infectious likes of Push It, Ice Ice Baby, Funky Cold Medina, and Gangsters’ Paradise, while the performers appeared to revel in the ironic appreciation as much as the audience did.

Salt N Pepa

There’s something about 90s reunion tours that seem somewhat more stylish than, say, 80s reunion gigs. The audience is a little younger, the tunes aligned with a club culture that pretty much coined the phrase ‘go hard or go home’, and the songs – while mostly of a simple structure, musically and lyrically – are as vivid in memory as glow-sticks on a smoky club dancefloor.

Vanilla Ice

Suffice to say, a fabulous time was had by the party-hard crowd, and an even better one by those punters who were lucky enough to get picked to dance on stage with their 90s icons. Somehow I found myself up there, popping moves while surrounded by the holy trinity of novelty rap: Vanilla, Tone and Coolio. And you don’t get that opportunity often!  Antonino Tati

Tone Loc

Photography by Antonino Tati.