FIDLAR are a skate punk band from California. Are there any other type of skate bands from California? Why are they all punks? I’m sure some of them are really nice cardigan wearing people who also listen to Belle & Sebastian. Where are their music? Anyways, FIDLAR rode the hype train earlier this year, but it was this random single and not any track from their self titled debut that caught my attention. This song kind of originated in 2012, but they recorded it again this year with Kate Nash so that qualifies as a 2013 song, right? right? Think Moldy Peaches meets Nada Surf with a super awesome chorus, dude.
Kate Nash put on one my most unexpectedly favorite shows of the year to date. I went into her show with looooooow expectations. It was a Monday night, I was a bit concert-ed out after Friday and Saturday night shows, and I’d heard from friends past performances from the British star had been sub-par.
O was I pleasantly surprised.
I was nervous/cranky up to the very beginning, when Nash was not only a few minutes late but then primed the audience for her appearance on stage with four old-school TVs and one giant screen in the back showing her singing “You Don’t Own Me.” “Oh man,” I thought, “all ego, no performance.” Then… her band came on – three awesome looking women with “Deaf Proof” Tees…. Then Ms. Nash appeared.
Instant girl crush.
Kate Nash is honestly one of the most adorable humans I’ve ever seen, and she leverages that pert nose, great British accent, stunning smile, and awesome hair to the best of her ability to amazing effect. There are just so many contradictory aspects on display at once, you can’t help but be captivated by her, then when she opens her mouth and that singular voice comes out, you’re hooked for good. The juxtaposition of her cuteness, her energy, and her anger are entrancing. I was too caught up in the show to be at all disappointed I didn’t hear some of my favorites, instead falling in love with every track she played live, especially “Oh my god” and “Fri-end.” Nash has also perfected the art of banter, pausing from music just long enough to:
1) Thank the crowd
2) Tell the crowd they were dumb if they missed her awesome opener
3) Explain the inspiration behind the “Fri-end” track, advising the crowd to ‘spring clean’ their phone of all the people they call friends but don’t actually like
4) Explain that she wrote “Oh my god” while on the perfect ‘holiday’ – one of those vacations that makes you realize ‘how sh*t everyday life can be… but then there’s no point in trying to polish a turd.’
Ah Kate, such words of wisdom, such an amazing show. Loved it, love you, best of luck.
Toronto – So Kate Nash is kind of becoming a bit of a star. That’s the impression I got as I entered the fairly packed Phoenix for an early Saturday show. You could see the excitement building amongst the largely young and female crowd (and in the guy standing next to me who was excitedly dancing to the prerecorded music being piped in over the PA.) The excitement grew, manifesting itself as Kate took the stage to the sound of much cheering amd launched into “Doo-Wah-Doo,” followed by “Mouthwash,” which is pretty similar to how she started off her previous show in town at the Mod Club. One significant change from the setlist of that show is that she saved the song “Foundations” until almost the end of her set, so perhaps she read Ricky’s review and took it to heart.
Another change from that previous night’s set is that Nash moved more quickly to guitar based songs (she was on the guitar by the third song, although that may have had something to do with the fact that she was uncertain of the structural integrity of the chair she was sitting on) and switched things up a bit, moving back and forth every few songs. She definitely knows how to work a crowd, and was happy to interact with them, responding to the random things shouted by excitable fans – things like “Get her a drink!” (shouted during a call for silence before a particularly quiet song), “You’re my favourite ginger!” and various comments about her dress, belt, feet, and what she was drinking. This sort of thing makes a crowd feel like they have some sort of connection with a performer and came across pretty well, as she had some pretty funny reactions. She does clear her throat into the mic a bit too often though.
While some may feel that her piano pop numbers are stronger, I did find several of the newer guitar based numbers to be mostly pretty compelling as well. I thought she did a fairly convincing performance, bringing an almost John Lydon-esque vibe to her delivery. Do I like these songs as much as “Birds” or “Merry Happy?” No, but they’re still pretty good and this seems to be a direction she’s interested in going in. Certainly, the bulk of the crowd seemed to be pretty into it, and frankly, I’d rather see a young musician with only 2 albums under her belt branch out into various directions than get pigeonholed as one sort of thing. Speaking of branching out, Nash played what she referred to as her version of an R n’ B song, “R n B Side.” She credited her guitarist with coming up with the title and seemed pretty pleased with the wordplay. It’s pretty good, but as far as clever wordplay goes, I’d have to give the prize for the night to the guy asking for change outside after the show – “Give some cash if you love Kate Nash.”
Toronto – I had no idea how big Kate Nash was before attending her Mod Club show on Monday. She was in town on Monday to kick off her North American tour to promote her latest album – My Best Friend is You which has already spawned a big hit in Do-Wah-Doo. The show was sold out and it was an all ages show. Apparently Kate Nash has cornered the key teenager-young adult female demographic as the crowd mainly consisted of youngish girls. There were also some fathers in the crowd trying to hit on the bartenders as well (they probably appreciated the poster saying ‘A Cunt is a useful thing’ hanging from Kate’s keyboard). Everyone was fairly excited, and when the Kate Nash came on stage at around 10:20 pm, the place went nuts. The show however, was about as bipolar a show as I’ve ever been to. I am going to quote myself again (via twitter) to summarize the show.
1st 40 minutes of Kate Nash was great last 40 minutes were awful. Like the senators, she can’t hold a lead
I really don’t know what happened – the show started off great. The 1-2 punch of Paris and Doo-Wah-Doo emphasized all the great things about the new album – stellar production, big sound and catchy melodies highlighted by her singing with the posh English accent (even if it is layered over a Regina Spektorish piano vibe). Mouthwash and future hit Don’t You Want to Share the Guilt gave her a chance to further display her singing chaps and songwriting. I love girls with a posh British accent. Like Big Suze
Everything was going quite swimmingly and everyone were having a good time, the girls were dancing, the boys were nodding and the dads were talking to the cute girl bartenders. Then about 40 minutes in, Kate Nash played that one single piano note. One of the most recognizable notes in recent history, which announced the beginning the song Foundations. Everyone was singing and I was wondering ‘where does she go from here? she already played Doo-Wah-Doo and now she played Foundations‘. The answer was, undoubtedly, downhill.
If you left the concert after the song Foundations, then you would have given the concert a:
But of course, you stayed. For the record, I found Foundations to be a bit rushed. It’s a song about a relationship gone wrong and displays all sorts of insecurities and issues that a lot of people can identify with, thats why it’s so popular. It’s the type of song that should have been given a slower, more dramatic treatment, yet she just blazed through it.
After Foundations, Kate Nash more or less abandoned her well known piano driven pop songs, strapped on the guitar, started downing alcohol and transformed the night in to a punk rock show. For the song I got a Secret, she encouraged the crowd to learn the lyrics of the song for a sing-a-long and then played the song at such a pace that she didn’t even need the crowd. Usually sing-a-longs are like – artist sings, pause, crowd sings. In this case, it was artist sings..artist sings..song over. Strange.
The rest of the set left the audience in a bit of a faze, as she channeled her inner Siouxie Sioux and practiced her rock screams over standard punkish rock sound. It’s definitely not playing to her strengths and I think more then a few people were a bit like WTF. I think all momentum was lost. I can appreciate an artist wanting to expand her sound and trying out new things, but for a show to be such night and day, it’s pretty surprising. The one song encore consisted of another punk rock song, and not one of her bigger hits like Pumpkin Song or something.
This part of the show gets a
Overall, the show was quite unbalanced and I don’t think you should use up your two most popular tunes in the first half of the set. The band was quite disengaged and seemed to be going through the motions. They barely addressed the crowd and mostly just looked at the floor. I guess this was Kate’s show anyway so it shouldn’t matter. It’s pretty apparent the talent and charm is there, but maybe the stage act should be reigned in a little, but what do I know.
Paris
Doo-Wah-Doo
Mouthwash
Kiss That Grrrl
Take Me To a Higher Plane
Don’t You Want to Share the Guilt
I Hate Seagulls
I’ve Got a Secret
Foundations
R n’ B-side
Merry Happy
Later On
Mansion Song
I Just Love You More
Model Behaviour
Here’s the rest of the dates:
April 28 – Boston, MA – Great Scott’s
April 29 – New York, NY – The Bowery
May 1 – Williamsburg, NY – Music Hall of Williamsburg
May 3 – Chicago, IL – Lincoln Hall
May 5 – Minneapolis, MN – First Avenue
May 7 – Seattle, WA – Neumo’s
May 8 – San Francisco, CA – Bottom of the Hill
May 11 – Los Angeles, CA – El Rey
