I just arrived from the French Kicks concert at The Social, here in downtown Orlando. First of all, it was my first concert in this venue and I loved it: it is definitely my kind of venue, one that reminded me of “The Fly” in Caracas and one that I plan on coming back to soon.
I arrived just as The Little Ones were wrapping up their set. What I heard was good, but I honestly didn’t hear enough to make a fair judgement.
After setting up and a bit of a break, French Kicks hit the stage and it was all power spewing from it, all through their performance. Nick Stumpf, the lead singer (who also played keyboard on and off) stood tall as a tower, twisting his legs like a pretzel, perhaps to bring himself down to the level of the mic which was stretched as far as it could go.
The lead guitarist, Josh Wise, pulled sounds from his instrument that were worthy of The Edge and the drummer, Aaron Thurston, played like there was no tomorrow. The bass player, the younger brother of the lead singer, rounded things up alongside a new band member, Kush, who plays keyboards, rhythm guitars and percussion.
They oozed SO much energy on stage. They reminded me of a blend between The Arcade Fire, Starsailor and early U2. Every song was incredible! What made their sound so special were particularly the harmonies Stumpf and Wise put together, along with the impeccable and loaded drum playing.
I read a comment in another blog that felt they didn’t sound as good live as they do in studio. I liked their studio work a lot, but honestly these guys are way better live than in any of their albums. I will have to disagree with the blogger who said otherwise.
Here is a video from the track “So Far We Are”, from their new album: