Black Kids

Three months ago, I was quite privileged to see Florida five-piece Black Kids blow the show in question’s headliner Kate Nash away. So why does tonight never match the delirious combustion of emotions experienced on that occasion?

For starters, that night they played for 20 minutes with no filler in sight, while tonight is a 45-minute marathon. Sure, they do have some moments where the hype surrounding them is justified: ‘Listen To Your Body Tonight’ and ‘I’m Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How To Dance With You’ both sound energetic and vivacious, particularly stripped of Bernard Butler’s over-production that rather spoiled their debut album Partie Traumatic (Review). But there’s a general feeling of uneasiness emanating from the stage, most likely due to the fact that despite tonight’s show selling out Black Kids, at this infant stage of their career, surely need to be honing their talents in more intimate settings, particularly as the bulk of their set amounts to little more than under-developed filler.

It doesn’t help when the heckles start coming from the back of the room, undoubtedly caused by unrest from an audience that seems to only know two songs at best. Proceedings are dampened even further when a pint of warm lager lands on Dawn Watley’s keyboard as ‘Love Me Already’ draws to a close.

A finger of blame for the lack of spark on show must be pointed at the band’s label. Whatever happened to mentored, nurtured, development? For want of sounding like a careers instructor for some national distribution chain, even those of a fickle nature must surely realise that industry pressures are turning even the most prolific of newcomers into unstable wrecks.

But tonight isn’t the time to dismiss Black Kids for the deficiencies they carry. After all, Radiohead came good after hyped-but-hollow beginnings, so why should it be any different a decade or so later? Black Kids have potential, that's for sure. But the finished article? Ask me in another 18 months.