‘Cold Lewisham nights’: Behind the scenes at Jim Legxacy’s debut UK tour

Some heroes wear capes, others ride Lime bikes. This was how UK MVP Jim Legxacy entered the final leg of his debut, fully sold-out UK tour last weekend, which, much like his music, was packed with references to south London. The show included a live bus feed from Lewisham shopping centre, a surprise appearance from Streatham hitmaker Dave, and even a fleet of (very real) Lime bikes. To quote Jim himself, “This that blue borough shit” indeed. 

The vision was brought to life by live experience specialists UDC, a three-part endeavour composed of Unlimited Dream, Dreamachine and Cortext that has previously designed stages for Pa Salieu, King Krule, Skepta and many more. All aspects of the stage design stemmed from the following words from Jim: “I remember coming home from school in the cold and it was always gloomy; I wanted to recapture that feeling.”

The entire concept was inspired by hearing Jim talk about the powerful and intense feeling he had as a kid walking home on a foggy night

“The entire concept was inspired by hearing Jim talk about the powerful and intense feeling he had as a kid walking home on a foggy night – the image he painted with words really drew us in,” UDC tells Dazed. “The show design draws from the same references as the album, it becomes a visual representation of the environment Jim grew up in and all the social and cultural influences that went into creating this specific sound.”

The team emphasise how authenticity was particularly important to the project, given the deeply personal tales of growing up in south London featured on Jim’s latest album, Black British Music. “Like the title suggests, it’s an album rooted in a specific place. It was interesting to think about Britishness through a different lens than the one that currently dominates the political space,” UDC continues. “There are some deeply personal tracks on the record, and, by creating a space that felt connected to Jim Legxacy’s world, the true emotions of the music felt more pronounced.” 

This commitment took UDC to painstaking levels of detail with the stage design, creating a mic-sized replica of the iconic Catford Cat that crowns Lewisham shopping centre, to even setting the mic stand on a small patch of astro turf to symbolise the “flood-lit five-a-side astro pitches that provide a moment of space and freedom within south London’s dense city streets.” But this authenticity went overboard when the crew brought a fleet of Lime bikes on-stage and suddenly realised that audience members could actually still access them from the Lime app during the show. “[We worried it] would disrupt the sound,” UDC explains. “But Jim just thought it could be funny and part of the chaos of real life which seems to really fit with the music, too.”

Below, live experience specialists UDC break down how they brought Lewisham to life in Jim Legxacy’s debut UK tour. 

How did the partnership with Jim come about?

UDC: One of Jim’s managers is also the manager of Pa Salieu, and four years ago he trusted us to design Pa’s Afrikan Rebel Tour and UDC began. He introduced us to Jim’s music a really long time ago, we were blown away and couldn’t wait to design something for him too.

How did you develop Jim’s initial brief?

UDC: Fast! It was a tight turn around to build the production but Jim is very open to the creative process and super relaxed which creates an atmosphere where you can test, experiment and develop quickly. We realised the full creative vision, there were some elements we thought would be tricky to pull off within the project constraints but the clarity of the concept helped us through. 

Were there any songs or lyrics that particularly inspired your stage design?

UDC: The show design draws from the same references as the album, it becomes a visual representation of the environment Jim grew up in and all the social and cultural influences that went into creating this specific sound. The music videos he made early in his career provided an amazing source of inspiration for the quality of light, depth of shadow and overall cinematic feeling. 

Could you break down some of the key stage features? 

UDC: Jim’s personal identity is developed through the references to south London in all the staging. The mic stand as a show element is always close to the artist, visible to all audience members and the photography online, so we felt that it should act as an icon or totem for the show. The top of the mic stand features a chrome re-creation of the Catford Cat, which in real life sits over an entrance to Lewisham shopping centre – itself an emblem for the area and below the mic hung the ‘Black British Music’ flag and the Lewisham council flag, reiterating Jim’s stance on his identity. 

In addition, we developed a lighting strategy that would only feature lighting elements found on the streets of Lewisham. At the back of the stage was a real LED bus sign which played throughout the show, which drew  a live feed of buses at Lewisham shopping centre at the exact time of the show. 

Jim and each band member is lit by a low hanging fluoro tube light, found everywhere from underpasses to chicken shops. The floor package consisted of four real Lime bikes which encircled Jim. We attached lights to match the bike lights, which we could then integrate into the timecode lighting – we loved the idea of creating strobing lime bikes. It was designed to feel like it could be part of the present, drawing the audience onto the streets of Lewisham and recreating the intense and moody feel of walking home at night during each track.

Are there any that you think might have flown over people’s heads?

UDC: Definitely! We really loved the idea of people finding all these moments and it’s been cool seeing people post and write about them on socials. By paying attention to all the micro details of the staging we were able to create a sense of hyperspecificity that drew the audience into Jim’s world, connecting them closer to him and his music. Our favourite aspect of the show centres around the fact that we only used lighting elements found on ‘a cold night in Lewisham’ and created a full timecode light show without having to rely on conventional lighting packages. 

Will the other tour dates have similar stage elements to his Hackney shows?

UDC: The brief was to create a scalable lighting-led show design for the tour. The production was driven by lighting, with distinctive staging elements to ensure cohesion across venues of varying sizes and the tour ended with a double headline show at EartH, Hackney. For the larger stage at EartH we introduced the Lime bikes, our key stage props, they were presented in isolation and acted as a central piece of symbolism to create B-stage moments. And we wanted to see this icon of UK streets on the stage with Jim. 

Catch a closer look at the immersive live show in the gallery above.