Live Review

Left Boy – Under The Bridge, London

• 13th Feb 2013

‘All I Want For Christmas Is You’ … not the type of song you’d expect to hear in February, but that didn’t stop ‘Left Boy’ from sampling not one, but two Christmas songs during his ‘Sexual Encounter’ Tour. With over 11 million hits on his YouTube channel, 25 year old Austrian Rapper ‘Left Boy’, aka Ferdinand Sarnitz, took to the stage in a packed out venue at ‘Under the Bridge’.

With a sample-filled set, including Carley Rae Jepson ‘Call me Maybe’, Eurythmics ‘Sweet Dreams’ and Vanessa Carlton ‘1000 Miles’, Left Boy’s bizarre electro pop, bass heavy remixes failed to impress and felt more like a ‘Now 80’ compilation CD on shuffle, while Left Boy rapped over it. Unfortunately for Left Boy, these familiar samples were far more entertaining, especially the psychedelic Austin Powers theme and Lana Del Rey’s ‘Videos Games’, which I would have preferred to hear in full, instead of Left Boy’s chiptune inspired remixes and whiny rap skills distorting each track. Towards the end of his set, the crowd chanted in hopeful anticipation for his 3.5 million YouTube hit ‘Jack Sparrow’. Yes, you’ve guessed it – another sample, this time from the blockbuster film ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’.

You can’t fault Left Boy’s enthusiasm throughout the night, as he constantly interacted with the crowd explaining his inspiration for each track; many of which happened to be about the ladies. He even asked the crowd to high 5 each other, while the ecstatic crowd were only too happy to oblige. I on the other hand paid a visit to the bar. At one point, he managed to get the entire crowd to turn around and face the back of the venue – hopefully they didn’t spot me trying to escape out the back door. Enthusiasm and confidence can only take you so far, but when each track is just a re-worked sample after sample, it fails to deliver any sense of uniqueness or individuality.

‘Black Dress’ will be the first single to be taken from his upcoming debut album. Be sure to check out his videos on YouTube and experience Left Boy for yourself.

“When I was 18, I wrote this song and thought I’d never write anything better” – 7 years later and he was probably right!

Venue: Under The Bridge, London
Support Band: Mirakle, I Am Tim