Monday was a special night at New York City’s Mercury Lounge. Not only was Chiiild playing to a sold-out crowd, but he was also performing on his birthday. The night quickly became a celebration of music as well as the artist on his birthday.
The venue was packed and buzzing with anticipation nearly an hour before the opener took the stage. Shungudzo walked through the crowd and took the stage, and quickly won over the crowd with her stunning vocals and inspiring lyrics. Shungudzo went on to play a truly incredible opening set, effectively warming up the crowd for her friend and collaborator, Chiiild.
Before we knew it, the members of Chiiild’s band took the stage and, with a violin, guitar, and drums setting the perfect intro as Chiiild worked his way through the full-capacity Mercury Lounge crowd, mic in hand as the intro led to their first song ‘Back To Life.’ It was an exciting entrance, and that excitement only built as the night went on.
The second song performed was ‘Eventually,’ and the energy in the crowd and on the stage was contagious, both feeding off of each other. Chiiild noted the energy and how special the night felt after just two songs and with the revelation that this was his first-ever sold-out show.
Ahead of the show, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect from a Chiiild live show, but already after just three songs thought to myself, “this is a can’t miss experience.” As the artist played ‘bonafide,’ you could feel the passion in what the band was playing. Altering the song for a live experience, Chiiild noted, ‘we gonna give you something you don’t hear on Spotify…”
Part of what made the performance so strong was the band accompanying him. Chiiild noted them going back to their hometown of Montreal, Canada. He went on to tell the origins of the band, and a time they were in a room and decided together to be done being a “cog in the machine” and to chase their dreams of music. That dream led them to writing music in London and stumbling across the “synthetic soul” of their first hit ‘Count me out.’
You could feel the emotion from the band and the magnitude of the night. After reminiscing on the group’s earliest days, they were playing to their first sold-out crowd in New York City. Not only that but that this performance was in the same week as an energetic set at Governors Ball.
There was a push and pull with the crowd, and Chiiild did an excellent job engaging the crowd. Such a great job that when the crowd loved their performance of ‘Gone’ so much and asked to hear it again, the frontman said, “Okay, let’s run that back,” and the band began to freestyle a new and unique rendition of the hit song. Beautiful tones of the violin rang throughout the lounge hall. This version of ‘Gone’ was so improvised that it also saw Chiiild take the side of the stage to play a little bit of keys. It was a fun moment for both the crowd and the band.
The set was full of the Chiiild songs you would want to hear at a concert. The Best Aint Happened Yet, Pirouette, Hold On Till We Get There, and Sleepwalking.
Following ‘Sleepwalking,’ the lights went out at Mercury Lounge, but the dark lasted maybe five seconds before the artist said, “encores are contrived. We’ve got two more songs for you.” Chiiild then introduced ‘Lotus’ and that this was the first time he had ever played it live. As he sang the lyrics, “I don’t wanna, I don’t wanna, I don’t wanna
Let this moment pass” I had a feeling that those lyrics were feelings shared as the set was winding down.
The last song of the night was ‘Darling,’ which felt like the way to end it. Again, the lights went off at Mercury Lounge, but this time the room was illuminated to the iPhone flashlight features on the crowds fun. Chiiild declared the lights symbolically as his “birthday candles” and thanked the crowd saying, “you really made this magical. This has been the best birthday party ever.”
The magic of the night was felt beyond just the artist celebrating a birthday. You could feel it from the crowd as they exited the confines of New York’s Mercury Lounge. If you have the chance to see Chiiild live, you don’t want to miss it!
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