It has been two years since Timothy McKenzie, better known as Labrinth, introduced his talents to the UK charts with colossal track Pass Out, which he co-wrote with Tinie Tempah. Since then he has procured extensive respect and support on the music scene, and last Wednesday at the O2 academy a sell-out Oxford crowd was shown why.

First came fresh grime act Dot Rotten. Debut single Keep It on a Low provided a tame kick-off to the set; its mellow vibe and melody would have been more suitable as the penultimate song. The same can be said for Normal Human Being (played second), a solid track but not a crowd-starter. It was not until final track Are You Not Entertained that the audience were fully engaged — profuse screams and hundreds of index fingers answered the song unequivocally.

Climb On Board was the opener from Labrinth and, over the thicket of hands, a wide smile could be seen from the stylish songwriter which I credited to his knowledge of what was to come. And Labrinth was leaving no one behind. What followed was a medley of part-songs and instrumentals, including his cover of Express Yourself. Envisage Labrinth wearing a cape and wielding an acoustic guitar-shaped wand, flooding his voice across the borders dividing music genres and, yes, still smiling. Tracks from up and coming album Electronic Earth maintained this conjurer-and-audience theme, illuminating the shady patches between pop, electro-house and R&B that Labrinth has sought and found.

Considering the voltage of the crowd at this point, it was inspiring that his biggest tracks were still in the hat. The gig became a rave with Frisky (another collaboration with Tinie Tempah) which then merged into Pass Out. However, utilising his six-stringed wand, the tone was again jolted by an acoustic rendition of Let The Sun Shine, giving ravers a chance to sing. Any serenity established here was soon shattered by — well — an Earthquake, shaking the O2 academy to the back wall.