Live Review

Black Kids – Barfly, Liverpool

• 15th Jul 2008

Inbetween a busy summer, what with festival appearences and a full blown tour, Black Kids finally came to Liverpool for an exhilarating gig at Barfly. After being fashionably late (as usual) I arrived in Barfly’s theatre just in time to catch the last few songs of the support act. All apologies to the band as I didnt catch their name, however the lead singer did resemble Kurt Cobain (see what I did there!! ) and the band unfortunately only really seemed to stand out with their final song. Although this may be an unfair judgement as I didn’t catch their whole set and they did have a bit of a mosh pit going on in the front row.

Now I’ve been waiting to see Black Kids live since about ooohh… April, so needless to say I was beyond excited and Black Kids did not disappoint. As the band took to the stage I immediatley felt a rush of excitement they stike you as a charming band, they have a good banter with the audience that’s kinda relaxed. As Ali had problems with her microphone they kept the crowd entertained with Reggie and Ali having a small debate over which of them loved playing Liverpool the most ( aww it’s nice to feel wanted) and their American accents make them appear effortlessly cool. They’ve got the X factor so to speak – that certain something that makes them so appealing. All the tracks off debut album Partie Traumatic (released 5th July) were played, what struck me about Black Kids is that the songs sounded even better live. They lend themselves to a live setting because all their songs are pretty much upbeat numbers so I would defy anyone not to want to dance around to this lot. I mean live gigs are always going to seem more exciting than a cd because you get the atmosphere, but there was just so much energy there. Also, at a guess I would say Black Kids have praticed and toured relentlessly because they sound so tight.

Highlights were definately I’m Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How To Dance With You, Hurricane Jane…who am I trying to kid it was all great. I Wanna Be Your Limosine was the darkhorse of the night it seemed to have been given a whole new leash of life live. All in all it was amazing and as Black Kids left the stage I waited in hope that they’d come back for just one more song, they didn’t, but that just left me wanting more. If you get chance to see Black Kids this summer grab it with both hands, I admit I’m a fan – but for good reason, Black Kids are a truly exciting band. But even if you’re not that familiar with them I think you’d be converted after seeing them live.