Black Kids,Gameboy/Gamegirl,Streetparty DJs @ The Corner(24/01/09)

Wed 4th Feb, 2009 in Gig Reviews

A busy summery night atop the Corner rooftop is often overshadowed by a spectacular show being put on downstairs in the bandroom. Tonight however, the urban surroundings of the rooftop trumped the atmosphere and performance that was going on below.

It felt a bit lame walking into a half empty bandroom that isn’t set up for partying with dj’s spinning their stuff (actually, more like pressing the enter button) cooped up on the mini stage near the merch desk. Boys and girls who were unaccustomed to not dancing to dance music feverently tapped their toes and tried to keep their top half looking normal and relaxed. The mixes were good but no one was comfortable in this situation, even the Streetparty DJs seemed a little anxious crowding around the one Mac screen and CD-Js.

Gameboy/Gamegirl came across as a fun spectacle in my imagination. Plus, anything that involves local DJ hero Miami Horror has to be good. Seeing Gameboy/Gamegirl live however wasn’t nearly as fun as planned. Three (rather than four, guess which imperative ingredient was missing…) purposefully awkward beings on stage; DJTranter behind a mac pressing play whilst the two nanna frocked girls, Jessica and Katy verbally puncture songs with ill-phrasing and unwitty rap and a general unenthusiasm in their performance. It could have been saved with digital samples of the girls’ yelps and umphs or even the implementation of some synthesisers for the awkward crew to hide behind. Gamegirl/Gameboy finished, Streetparty DJs took the stage again as the crowd piled in for Black Kids. Good tunes like Phoenix were being played and even the early peakers had started to settle.

The music stopped, the curtains opened and the crowd roared. It was a seamless beginning to a set for an indie dance band; the ecstacy riddled crowd jumped up and down, catcalled and punched the air with clenched jaws and fists. The smoke from the stage dispersed into the crowd and it was evident that Black Kids were missing one of
their members- Ali Younblood (keyboards and vocals). Confirming our fears, frontman Reggie Youngblood announced that Ali was not well and wouldn’t be performing tonight. Reggie also admitted that it would be the first Black Kids show ever without his sister but assured the audience she was under great care and morphine. Those that had experienced ive shows of young touring bands that suddenly had to compromise their performance grew visibly terse.

Playing the entirety of their acclaimed debut album, Partie Traumatic, Black Kids performed a technically strong set including hits like Hurricane Jane, Listen to Your Body Tonight and I Wanna Be Your Limousine to an unstoppable crowd that bounced off the walls (quite literally). Soon enough though, all the songs blended into each other, withkey signatures barely varying and the same guitar solo in the exact same spot of every song. What was a stroke of genius, however, was the lighting- a colourful display of complementing colours that pulsed and changed in all the right places.

Unfortunately there wasn’t a noticable difference between the album and the live sound – even with the absence of Ali Youngblood. The bassist, however, is very much understated in the recordings as he single handedly holds the band together. An underwhelming cover of Jonathon Richman’s Dancing at the Lesbian Bar was salvaged by a raptuous and thoroughly exciting performance of the song everyone had come to see- I’m Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How To Dance With You. The room erupted with energy like a government advertistement for safe partying briefly overtaking the ‘lame prom’ vibe of the majority of the evening. Few songs remained after this and the sound bent out of shape a bit with the soundie turning up the monotone backing vocals during the final song, completely blocking out Reggie’s limited spoken word vocals.

They’re a good-looking and well presented band and would go down a treat but headlining a festival in the middle of the night. But this was not that festival show, just a gig with a member missing, some lack lustre supports and an expensive door charge.