wild youth

Midlake
The Henry Fonda Theatre. Sept. 25, 2007

Normally, unless the people watching’s especially good, I hate showing up for a concert at the scheduled time only to find that the band I’m here to review doesn’t go on for another two hours and is prefaced by not the expected one but two (count em) opening bands. Said opening bands which could have been skipped by this reporter. Said opening bands are normally not awful by any means and of course have their legions of supporters, shouting out encouragement. But it’s 8:45 pm and Midlake, the band up for review, doesn’t hit the stage until 10:45 pm, and I’m old and cranky and need my sleep. Ah well, my own fault, I guess.

All complaints are forgotten when the opener Wild Youth hits the stage. Led by a 14 year old girl and a band full of 10 & 11 year old guys flailing around on beat up guitars and keyboards, they run through a batch of choice covers, from Bowie to Band of Horses, much to the delight of the crowd. The singer’s voice might be waaaaaaay off key and all over the place, and perhaps the drummer is keeping time to a song being played somewhere else entirely, but it’s still a joy to see a band that you know is going to be a tight little unit in two years if they keep jamming together. Great, enlightening stuff. As one attractive girl near me mentioned to her equally attractive girlfriend, “They totally ruled the rooster.” Indeed. - Entertainment Today