Mos Def at the Shepherds Bush Empire

Yes, it was rap night at the Shepherds Bush Empire last night with Mos Def playing (pretty good, but not great).

Anyone under six foot will know the peril that is the Empire. The combination of flat auditorium and high stage - and the recent trend of basketball players going to gigs - means that if you're not above average height you haven't got a sniff of seeing the action on stage.

I went to see Devendra Banhart there last year and spent half the gig moving through thickets of tall men before resigning myself to staring at the back of some monster in front of me for the gig's duration.

For Mos Def we got in there early, firstly in the hope of a decent support act (bunch of chaps trying and failing to be the Stereo MCs) and also to secure one of the very few vantage points to the edge of the bar. Getting there at 7.45 one of these spots was already taken with - wait for it - a couple, both of whom were over six feet. To add insult to injury, another giant in a baseball cap actually pushed past to get a vantage.

It is moments like these when the small man thinks to himself - bugger trying and failing to watch people perform, I'm going to get up there and myself. (ref: Ian Brown, Richard Ashcroft, Aston JLS, etc., etc.)