Red Bull Culture Clash Live Review

Earlier this month the Major Lazerand Diplo crowd surfing in his trusty clear bubble.

Round Two - 'The Selector' - had two strict rules: 1. no special guests and 2. no custom dubplates. But who listens to rules in a sound clash? Annie Mac certainly doesn't, fearlessly bringing out Disclosure. Major Lazer also bought out Stylo G to perform Call Me a Yardie which had the crowd reeling - despite the clear rule break! Skepta, Wiley and the BBK gang performed some of their recent hits then it was back to Channel One, who called out the cheaters and gave them a good telling off.

Round Three was called Sleeping With The Enemy - the 'rules' (a lose term at this point) stated each crew must play sounds from a different genre. Channel One gave their set a grimey twist, Major Lazer brought out reggae artist Johnny Osbourne, and BBK took a low blow at Major Lazer, revealing that Usher would do a surprise performance of Climax for Diplo. Just when the crowd thought it couldn't get any juicer, Annie Mac took her turn. Maverick Sabre covered Wonderwall, and then her crew aired Diplo's famous Blackberry advert, replacing the phone with a big pink sex toy… I think we know who won that round!

However, hosts Tim Westwood and Gemma Cairney revealed that due to the cheating in rounds two and three, all points dropped back to zero, leaving Round Four as the ultimate head to head battle.

Round Four - 'The Decider' - was the final chance for everyone to pull out all the stops. Channel One brought out reggae sensation Luciano, Annie Mac filled the stage with as many artists as possible - Ms Dynamite, Katy B and Example to name a few and BBK performed their strongest round yet, hyping up the crowd with Chipmunk, Lethal Bizzle and a sprinkle of Giggs. The final set was by Major Lazer, who gave us live performances from Rita Ora and Usher.

After taking a decibel reading of the crowd's reaction, Westwood announced that the winners of Culture Clash 2012 were Boy Better Know. A deserved winner if you take into account that it was based purely on Round 4. In my opinion, Major Lazer and Annie Mac tore up the arena as a whole, but fell back on the fatal final round, leaving BBK to swoop in and take the crown.

Becca Dudley