Kevin Rudolf

From the very beginning, it would appear Kevin Rudolf was destined for musical greatness. Writing his own songs from a young age, this eventually transitioned into him writing or co-writing every song on his two albums between 2008 and 2010. His prestige does not end here, however, as in 2004 Rudolf worked with critically acclaimed producer Timbaland on hits by popular artists like Justin Timberlake and The Black-Eyed Peas. Rudolf has reached great heights of success with his first single, “Let It Rock”, obtaining multi-platinum status and selling over four million copies. His second single, “I Made It”, followed its predecessor into platinum status and also reached sales of over one million. To conclude this spiel of achievement, Rudolf has also won the Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI) Pop Music award three times. But observing this greatness live is a different matter altogether. It’s impossible not to feel some form of respect towards the prodigious artist as he maintains a composed yet passionate attitude onstage. His casual attire, comprised of dark jeans, plain black t-shirt and sunglasses, emphasises the fact that he doesn’t require lavish costumes to wow fans. This is echoed in his simple set design, which includes only himself and his band as they pour everything they have into the music. As Rudolf reaches the top of his incredible range during “Let It Rock”, it is clear to anyone watching that live performances like his are few and far between.

Kevin Rudolf, who once upon a time released an album under the alias, Binocular, walks onto the stage, guitar in hand ready to deliver his hybrid rock & hip-hop sound. Rudolf is renowned for being a session musician working with the infamous Timbaland. It was through Timbaland that he found himself producing records for The Black Eyed Peas, Justin Timberlake, and Nelly Furtado. His song “Let it Rock” featuring Lil Wayne achieved amazing success debuting at number 5 on the Billboard Magazine’s influential Hot 100 chart. It was also a top 10 hit in five countries making the record go platinum. Rudolf this evening is all about his blend of rock and hip-hop, the songs being of a very Max Martin nature, with the pop hooks, the hip-hop swag, and the heavy guitars to roughen up the edges. It’s a big sound that Rudolf makes with his band; of course it is no lie that there is an abundance of live tracks to thicken up the sound. This is a technique that many bands have been doing for the last twenty years where the drummer most usually will be following a click track in their monitors, so the live performance with tessellate with the electronic track, creating an epic masterpiece. When Rudolf performs the song “Let it Rock”, the audience goes crazy, singing every single word, with their fists in the air pumping along to the huge beat of this song. Rudolf delivers a face melting guitar solo at towards the end of the song leaving the crowd in a state of awe.