It's a thankfully sunny evening in north London, and the man serving me falafel has just heard about TLC for the first time. "VLC?" he asks, when my friend and I tell him who we're headed to see across the road, at Koko. No, TLC, we say again. "They were famous in the 90s," my friend offers, while the man behind the counter pulls up a grainy fan-shot video on YouTube. "This?" Yup. He says nothing else, and only reacts to my attempt at singing the opening of "No Scrubs" with – after a pause – "you have a nice voice".So, TLC are back. And, by some logic that makes me question the musical taste of 80 percent of people living in Britain in the 90s, this is their first-ever UK live show. Before it starts, I hear at least three other people inside Koko have the "seriously how is this their first gig here?" conversation. That's fair enough: they were, at least in my 90s world, massive. As a trio, Tionne "T-Boz" Watkins, Rozonda "Chilli" Thomas and Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes kicked their way into our living rooms, condom-covered oversized trousers flapping about in the process. Their colourful visuals matched their lyrics, seeing the group shout out one-liners on hard dicks, contraception, cheating and what it meant to be a young, playful and confident woman. They dragged the girl group concept from its 1960s peak to new levels, slapping on layers of brashness, humour and an unwavering commitment to friendship that set the template for everyone from Destiny's Child to Little Mix. Winning four Grammys in the process didn't hurt either.If you're in your early twenties now or younger, then none of that may mean much. TLC in 2017 are known more for their big singles – "No Scrubs" a dancefloor crowd pleaser at your shite uni club nights, "Waterfalls" soundtracking the drunken pub singing of a group of women in their late thirties – than their album tracks. They're known for the tragedy of Left Eye's death in 2002, when she was just 30 years old. Depending on how deep into music TV documentaries you went in the 2000s, they're also known for the tangled mess of how their finances were mismanaged, leading to a mid-90s declaration of bankruptcy.Read more on NOISEY.
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