Loyle Carner @ BBC 6Music Festival

As he arrived onstage to rapturous applause, Loyle Carner took a moment to address his usual use of profanity, “I’ve gotta try my best to not swear this entire show,” the London rapper said, acknowledging the live BBC 6Music broadcast of his set from the festival’s Manchester base.

Now it’s permanent home, returning to Manchester for the first time in nine years (the last edition here took place in 2014), the BBC 6Music Festival has become a go-to event for incendiary and unique live performances from some of our favourite contemporary artists.

Friday was no different, as Carner was joined onstage by various different collaborators; Yuck alumni Athian Akec joined him for ‘Blood On My Nikes’, a verbal dismantling of the associated perils of knife crime in the UK, while the lauded Manchester AMC Gospel Choir helped serenade the crowd into the latter half of the set, performing a flawless version of album track ‘Nobody Knows (Ladas Road)’. You can’t hate the roots of a tree, and not hate the tree / So how can I hate my father without hating me?” Carner expressed, juxtaposing his own razor-sharp, Mephisto-esque judgements with a famous Malcolm X quote.

Whilst the event was held, run and branded heavily by the BBC, there was still room for Carner to take a protest-like stance, performing ‘Plastic’, a track that takes aim at the corporation’s rolling news coverage, tabloid splashes and “the plastic guy at the paper that thinks that Kano looks like Wiley.”  There was even time for a verbal address about asylum seekers and a dedication to Gary Lineker before the track began.

Image: BBC Radio 6 Music / Shirlaine Forrest

Carner’s final note of the night was ‘HGU’, a fiery cut that reconnoitres his tumultuous relationship with his father, commenting after its conclusion that by learning to drive since becoming a dad himself, he’s been able to forgive, forget, and ultimately, rebuild his own paternal relationship.

While there were more than a few lessons, schoolings or pieces of infinite wisdom to be drawn from Carner’s performance, the overarching lyrical messages passed down to the audience were about family, growth and forgiveness. Three things, irrespective of status, wealth and acclaim, that affect the human condition like no other.

Watch Carner’s set in full on BBC iPlayer here, or listen via BBC Sounds!