I
enter the venue towards the end of the supports
set, so the room is already full to the brim and
I literally have to push my way down to the front
through this heaving crowd full of mainly teenage
girls who have no idea why I, a 30 year old bloke,
is saying excuse me and trying to push my way
to the front to get into the photo pit. But I
get there and watch the last few minutes of the
support act, who are not a band but a local clothing
label who are playing a few songs and handing
out freebies to promote themselves, they get the
crowd warmed up and end there dance fuled setlist
with 5ive’s Get On Up. After a quick clear
out of the stage and a short wait, the main act
are ready to come out,
The
Midnight Beast, take to the stage dressed in what
look like Adidas made Power Ranger outfits, as
they all have a mask and are all in one colour,
along with them is 2 dancers in a cat and dog
suit that dance along with them as they perform
Beast Song Ever. Before I get into the review,
I will explain who the Midnight Beast are, just
in case you’ve been living under a rock,
they are a 3 piece comedy boy band/rap act that
have their own show on E4 and have been going
for about 5 years, they’re fun and they
work on a number of levels from childish humour
to witty musings, but anyway back to the review.
During
the song, each member has their own verse and
unmask themselves and come to centre stage when
it’s their turn, whilst the others stand
still with their fists in the air making a very
striking stage presence. They sound great and
have a drummer on stage doing live beats to go
along with the backing tracks as they sing/rap
along, this makes them feel more like a live band
and not just a pre-recorded pop act, the vocals
come across crisp and clear and the beats drop
thick and fast. They continue the set with Fuck
The Harlem Shake which is a play on the popularity
that was the Harlem Shake, which is something
I’m
sure we’d all like to forget, but this song
in itself serves as a legacy to the short lived
phenomenon. They then play the Dance Routine where
they are joined on stage by the dancers from the
start but they are no longer dressed as a cat
and dog, and during this song each member takes
off the remainder of their outfits so they’re
just in t-shirts and shorts, which drives this
crowd wild.
They then do a song called The Main One which
revolves about which member is the main guy in
the band, but turns out to be comical genius as
each member basically talks themselves out of
being the main one by what they actually do, this
flows into Just Another Boy band which talks about
how commercial they are and which was
a huge hit on their TV show which is about them
trying to get signed and promoted against actual
boy bands. They then take a quick break whilst
Drew and Ashley talk to the crowd about how hot
it is and how they’re enjoying playing a
show for the first time in months, they then pause
and wonder what song is next before Stef comes
back onto the stage to tell them how they should
have left to get ready for the next song, I couldn’t
tell weather this was real or not, but either
way it was great to see them having fun and enjoying
the moment. They leave the stage and change into
cloaks and come back to play Wands which uses
the Harry Potter music sampled into a loop where
they talk about being in gangs and using there
wands as weapons,
they do this whilst holding Harry Potter style
wands, which play up and don’t turn on when
they want them too, the song ends with them joined
by more people on stage all waving glow sticks
along with the music. The gig so far is going
great, they’re really active with dance
routines, jumping around the stage, and even getting
down into the photo pit to get closer to their
screaming fans who know every word to every song.
They decide to slow things down with Friends For
Never and Stef plays a keyboard for this one,
they continue with Ninja’s and then Sweet
Sixteen in which they all appear on stage in big
prom dresses whilst a sample from It’s My
Party and I’ll Cry if I want to loops as
they sing about pretentious sweet sixteen’s.
When the song ends they struggle to take their
dresses off but use this as a moment to thank
there drummer Ed who it turns out does the bass
samples too. They take a moment to in their words
be “Unprofessional” and take a selfie
in the crowd. Before jumping back on stage and
singing a song called When I’m Older which
is quite controversial as they talk about not
being Peado’s whilst there dancers where
old man masks and dance alongside. They then play
Lez Be Friends which is about how if girls don’t
like them when they hit on them, then they must
be a lesbian, they climb the stage fittings during
this song and then have to quickly get back to
centre stage for dance routines which makes for
fun watching.
They ask the crowd “If we do a tour, would
you come back?” which is met by huge cheers,
which is how the crowd have responded all night,
no-one seems to clap after a song just screams
at the band. They then tell the audience how they
have a new album coming out soon and that “we
know you want to hear some old ones but where
so excited to play new ones!” before performing
Uber, they then perform Begging, which is about
the world ending and how then the girl they like
will be begging them for sex, during which they
all play instruments, with Drew getting on drums,
Stef playing guitar and Ashley on Bass. This shows
how they’re legitimate song writers
and an actual band as they don’t just dance
and rap they sing and play instruments too. They
continue this for Quirky, which makes me feel
old as they sing about when they’re 30 they’ll
still be wearing a baseball cap, which I currently
am. They song comes to an end with 2 dancers setting
off huge poppers that cover the crowd in confetti
and Ashley does a huge jump with the bass, before
announcing “we’re gonna fuck off now”.
They come back on and the crowd throws twix’s
to them (which the support band threw out) and
they ask for more. They then do a warm up with
the crowd making sure everyone knows the lyrics
for the final 2 songs before performing Booty
Call and the Kes$a cover/skit Tik Tok which goes
down a storm. They take time after the song to
thank the fans for sticking by them and to go
and meet Stef’s mum whose selling merch
as she’d really like to meet them.
Overall tonight’s gig was great, I may
have been the oldest person in the room, but I
still enjoyed it as much as the screaming teenage
girls. They’re funny, they’re talented
and they’re so different to most bands that
are out there. They don’t take themselves
seriously and are kings of social media, they’re
definitely worth checking out and with a new album
out in June and a new tour being announced soon
for later in the year you have no excuses not
to go check them out!
Midnight Beast 5/5
Review By James Daly
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