Author: Bridget Benevides
Well, I have officially attended my last concert of 2018. It’s pretty crazy to think about all of the amazing artists I have seen this year, and to think of the new experiences they gave me and my fellow audience members. I cannot begin to image the effort and energy it takes to put on a performance like Wafia, NoMBe, Big World and Louis The Child did on Saturday at WaMu. I recognize and respect their efforts and know that the majority of the crowd was smiling ear to ear, but all in all it was not my favorite performance.
There were three performers before Louis The Child, the first of which was Australian- based musician Wafia. Wafia makes EDM music but delivers it in a soft and soulful way, and for this reason hers was my favorite performance of the night. She started releasing music in 2014 and since then has been gaining popularity quickly. I liked her performance because of her energy on stage and because the crowd was still small and calm when she was performing. As the night went on, the crowd got larger, drunker and ruder which contributed to my concert experience.
The second opener of the night was NoMBe. NoMBE, also known as Noah McBeth, is a German-born, Los Angeles-based singer/songwriter known for his atmospheric, chilled-out R&B. I had heard songs by NoMBe prior to the show, and assumed that it would be an electronic set, but to my surprise the music was made by 3 guitarists and a drummer. It sounded pretty different to the online recordings, but it carried a good vibe. The issue that I had with NoMBe was the way that he conducted himself in relation to his female band members. He acted like a solo artist on stage when in actuality his band carried the performance and that bothered me. I do not recall him introducing his band members and after their last song he left the stage without them which felt disrespectful to me. I talked to my roommate about it, and asked her if I was being overly critical, but she too agreed that something felt off about the relationship between NoMBe and the women on stage with him (who, if I do say so myself, were bada**.)
I did not realize that when the show was advertised as “Louis The Child + Big World” that they would be doing separate performances. I assumed that they would be collaborating and performing together, bit as it turns out, Big Wild came on before Louis The Child and performed about an hour long set. He did not introduce himself when he came on stage, so to be completely honest I thought he was one of the members of Louis The Child (of course he does not look like them and his music did not sound like theirs, so I was pretty confused for a minute). I heard other audience members also speculating about who was on stage and why there wasn’t two of them, but I think we all figured it out eventually. After a while, his music all started to sound the same to me: loud trap remixes with anticipatory drops and lots of bass. I did like his energy though, he seemed to be having fun on stage and that’s always a pleasure to see.
It really breaks my heart to say that I was underwhelmed by Louis The Child especially after I had such a positive experience seeing them in Seattle last year, but I really just didn’t feel it. They didn’t play a lot of original songs, they played a lot of hard, loud remixes of pop songs. And those, in my opinion were not very dynamic, but simply full of bass and drops and catchy lines from hit tunes today. The original songs that they did play, they remixed to make louder and more “house-like” which was a bummer for me. I get why they would want to change it up, if not to avoid monotony in their own performances as they go city to city, but also so fans do not know what to expect. But I really love their original songs, I like that it is electronic but not so aggressive that my head hurts, and I like that it is soft and dreamy and sing able. I feel like all of my favorite aspects of their music were not a part of their performance.
While it was not my most memorable night, I did have the opportunity to talk to many of my friends that went and they all had pretty positive experiences. I know one of KXSU’s arts reporters, Amelia, was in the front row and had a really great time. I still love Louis The Child and will continue to keep up with their music.
BRIDGET BENEVIDES | Love is alive. | KXSU Music Reporter