CityLife

Must see: Lily Allen and Dizzee Rascal

Lily Allen 1 / 2 images

It started with a Bugsy Malone cover...

Two of modern music’s most colourful and musically divisive characters – Lily Allen and Dizzee Rascal – first found common ground in 2007 when the pair teamed up on the Rascal’s third album for a grime reworking of So You Wanna Be A Boxer.

They were both big names on the underground grime scene before a series of stellar singles made them superstars (for Lily: Smile, LDN and The Fear; for Dizzee: Fix Up Look Sharp, Stand Up Tall, Sirens, Dance Wiv Me, Bonkers and Holiday), but Lily and Dizzee might seem like an otherwise odd pairing.

Lily’s glittering childhood as the daughter of a film producer and actor is in stark contrast to Dizzee’s, who was raised by his Nigerian-born mum in Bow and repeatedly kicked out of school for his challenging behaviour.

But both were saved by the intervention of music and steered towards exploring their gifts from an early age. The result was Dizzee’s Mercury Award-winning debut record Boy in da Corner (released when he was just 18) and Lily’s Grammy-nominated first album Alright, Still in 2006.

Conveniently, they’ve both traversed the same career trajectory since, meaning the pair can now meet again for a big live spectacular in an massive venue to celebrate being young, gifted and 24 – which they do in Manchester tonight, at the MEN Arena.

It’s the first time either of them have been the headline draw at the venue, and it’s a co-headline show so who knows what manner of impromptu turns and fancy collaborations could happen?

CityLife could just about endure anything... except Allen rapping.

MEN Arena - March 5, 2010 - £28.10.