Lauryn Hill: Brixton Academy, London

FOLLOWING THE phenomenal success of The Score, in some critics' eyes the time was right for a Fugees backlash. After all, what was so great about a band who seemingly couldn't write their own songs and relied so heavily on meandering shuffles through other performers' classics? And what fools thought they could bring anything new to masterpieces like 'Killing Me Softly' or 'No Woman, No Cry'? Like it or not, in the natural order of things, a series of swift, hard kicks aimed at the foot of the Fugees' statue was imminent, if not long overdue. Uncut's resident finger pointer, The Reaper, for one, was chomping at the bit.