PUBLIC Enemy, despite their years, still seem determined to take no prisoners with their music. There was still the aggression and anti-political stance that made their name 15 years ago in evidence that last night. The hip-hop group burst onto the scene in the late '80s before becoming incredibly influential, both musically and politically, through the '90s. When rapper Flavor Flav joked on stage last night that the band were the Beatles of hip-hop, it was a half-truth. Songs like Rebel Without a Pause set one of the benchmarks for modern music, opening rap up to a far larger audience, both here, and in their home country of the USA. Yet you would have thought that was only yesterday, the way they bounced around stage last night. Their performance was explosive in its energy, hiding the fact their age is in the mid-40s. But there have been personnel changes to the group with Terminator X leaving the band, although the core members of Chuck D and Flavor Flav still remain. Not that the audience at the Carling Academy could care less about them approaching middle age. There were a few people here that could remember the group from the first time around, but the crowd all looked a little too young to have been picking up vinyls in 1991. But with their "best of" released last year, and a recent surge in popularity in what is considered to be old school hip-hop, the rappers have managed to educate a new generation of fans into what the group are all about. That is proof of the group's legacy. They have managed to avoid becoming a footnote to musical history and are among the great rap survivors. Despite their age, it is blatant for all to see that the reason why they are still here is because they love what they do. The band played for 150 minutes, there were breaks with lots of chat, but there was a determination to put on a proper show.They raced through tracks from the early days through to Flavor Flav's first solo album, which will be released later in the month. There were still political messages galore last night, mostly concerning war, Blair and Bush. But it was the angsty rage in the lyrics which carried the most power. Tracks like Fight the Power still resonate loudly as a call to stand up and be counted. It is that which the band will be most remembered for. | 
