YOUNG FATHERS RETURN HOME AS THEIR UK AND EUROPEAN TOUR ENDS AT EDINBURGH’S USHER HALL
(CERTAINLY WAS DIFFERENT HALLOWEEN)

★★★★☆ (4.5/5)

YOUNG FATHERS PERFORMING AT EDINBURGH’S USHER HALL
PHOTOCREDIT: CALUM BUCHAN

Young Fathers are currently one of the hottest and coolest live bands in the UK right now, they are winning awards and plaudits from a variety of sources (including three Scottish album of the year awards) and building a reputation as excellent live performers so I was really looking forward to this, first of two nights, gig.

Trying to pin down Young Fathers sound is a thankless task, they don’t compromise in their music, their attitude or their stage presence. If you want a big theatrical setting this is not the band for you as all the theatre is provided by the band themselves. The stage is minimal but the presence of the three leads and their backing singers together with the musicians fills it. They dance, they sing, they have a social conscience and the music is full on.

It’s an almost visceral experience seeing Young Fathers live, the driving drums, the combination of rap, soulful singing and full on vocal attack, the constant mixing of who is leading, the sheer energy all enthused the crowd and made them feel part of the Young Fathers family.

A lot of the music came from the new album but it was all met with the same enthusiasm from the crowd, one person next to me got so into it she tried to persuade security to let her into the photo pit, strangely enough the security guy on the gate declined that request.

The mix of soulful and full on attack with the constant need to push their, and everybody else’s boundaries means that Young Fathers are the cutting edge of the music scene right now, they don’t pull their punches but they are also capable of some incredibly tender moments. The backing singers were both excellent with very powerful voices. How they kept the whole ensemble going at the hectic pace they can hit is beyond me.

It was a shame that the Tuesday night show wasn’t totally sold out, unlike the Wednesday night, and the people in the seats did seem, mostly, to be s bit restrained but down in the standing area there was no such restraint. As the gig went on those standing were breaking out more and more moves and starting to really warm their voices up.

There was a bit of a feel of The Specials slightly anarchic live performances in this gig, they are not quite at the level of the Specials at their peak but they are an excellent live band, believe the hype and go see them!