Young Fathers Produce Knock Out Homecoming Gig
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Last week Mercury Award winning trio Young Fathers began their UK tour in support of their new album, 'White Men Are Black Men Too'.
Opening with "No Way", the first song from their debut album, the band set a precedent for the wide span of the night’s set and put the audience firmly in their place with a penetrating drum beat and blinding strobe lights, which frequently obscure them from view. Their icy stage presence means that band offer no words to relieve the tension that builds with every note. With less than half of the set made up of songs from their new release, the performance is constructed with either a special appreciation for their dedicated fans or flagrant disregard for anyone’s expectations.
The Glasgow Art School provides a fitting backdrop to the opening night of the tour. Just a stone’s throw from Edinburgh where the band spent their formative years, they are welcomed home with open arms after a lengthy stint in North America. Despite their recent successes, it would seem that Young Fathers have made a conscious decision to play rather more intimate venues up and down the country, perhaps a necessary aid to their powerful performance.
The trio clearly give their performance everything they’ve got and by its climax look utterly exhausted, shirts transparent from their own sweat. Kayus Bankole is in particular a showman, dancing as if totally overwhelmed by the music and the moment. The audience is visibly gripped by what can only be paradoxically described as beautifully well -constructed loss of control.
In a brief moment of interaction Graham ‘G’ Hastings asks the excited crowd ‘do you want to dance?’ as the synths explode into their most recent single, "Shame". After almost exactly an hour the set comes to an abrupt end, unsurprisingly without an encore. A microphone hits the floor as the band exit on the last note of a stripped version of "I Heard", which free from the chaos of clattering drums and cymbals lets the audience to catch their breath for the first time.
Extreme talent coupled with a thrilling live performance makes Young Fathers one of best live acts you will see this year.
To find out more about Young Fathers click here.
To visit the Young Fathers Facebook page click here.
Words by Olivia Morgan
