De La Soul @ The Picture House, 5 June

As the Picture House is warmed up with a safe set of perennial rap classics from the titans – EPMD, Wu-Tang, Nas, Tribe and NWA – it’s an apt prelude to an ensuing retrofest. Although the sight (and sound) of thirty-something nine-to-fivers bawling the words to Deep Cover at their less inebriated better halves is something to behold, the 20th anniversary tour of De La Soul’s seminal 3 Feet High and Rising is the real reason we're all here. But only a handful of tracks from that album make the cut tonight, the trio instead serving up a beginners guide with The Magic Number, Ring Ring Ring, Stakes is High and Rock Ko.Cane Flow pinpointing their four most significant eras so far. De La’s onstage presence has withered none over the years, with all three playing hype man at various stages tonight: Maseo gets his belly out and screams like a madman; Trugoy shakes his head in theatrical disbelief at the crowd’s inability to party; while Posdenous drops the compelling couplets that made us stop partying to think. Just like old times.