The drum and bass pioneer behind “Inner City Life” plays his classics with a live band, an orchestra and guests in the Royal Festival Hall.
Goldie, the drum and bass pioneer behind “Inner City Life”, performs with his live band and an orchestra at the Royal Festival Hall on Saturday 14 November 2026. The evening is part of the EFG London Jazz Festival.
Born Clifford Joseph Price, he first made his name as a graffiti artist in the early 1980s. Hip-hop and breakdancing took him to New York, where he began making the gold dental jewellery that became part of his image.
His music began under the alias Rufige Kru. In 1994 he co-founded the label Metalheadz, which released Photek and Source Direct. His 1995 debut album, Timeless, reached number seven on the UK album chart with “Inner City Life”.
His records have always set breakbeats against orchestral textures and soulful vocals. Here the band and the orchestra play his best-known tracks together.
The first guests announced are anaiis, a London-based French-Senegalese artist, the jazz drummer and producer Yussef Dayes, and the jazz singers Natalie Williams and Cleveland Watkiss. More names are still to come.