Grandmaster Flash

Grandmaster Flash, raised in the South Bronx, steps back to the decks as the pioneer who treated the turntable like an instrument. At Concorde 2 in Brighton on 27 October 2026, he revisits the foundations of hip hop with the methods he shaped in the early 1970s: fingers on the vinyl, looping breaks, and his Quick Mix Theory to stretch and reframe a groove. With the slipmat he helped bring into practice, the cuts stay precise and the blends fluid, building a live narrative out of funk, soul and the first wave of rap.

On stage, his set doubles as a tour through the culture’s opening chapter. Flash connects routines and stories, tracing a path from block parties to studio recordings, from the Furious Five years to present-day practice. Tight sequencing, call-and-response and unshowy timing drive the flow, while scratches and drops mark the timeline. Historian, storyteller and working DJ, he frames the music with context and then lets it move, stacking breaks into a danceable slice of hip hop history.