My first taste of Wild Cub was last year during CMJ, when they played a packed out show at Pianos for IGIF’s Floating Fest. At the time the name rang a bell, but wasn’t familiar with any tunes. Immediately upon hearing their first song I knew I was in for a treat. I’m a sucker for 80s-inspired dance-rock fusion, and Wild Cub have got that going, and much more. I was impressed (and surprised) to see them playing a sold out show at Bowery Ballroom, but that was my own fault for not realizing just how captivating these guys are.
L.A. rockers Hands opened the show, and were a perfect match for the cool waves of Wild Cub. They delivered a top notch set full of exciting dance flavored tunes with a rocking edge. The band have a cool and collected confidence to their live show that was evident from watching them on stage. I had great deal of fun watching Hands play, and wouldn’t pass up another chance to do so.
Wild Cub had the room packed, and there was a feeling of excitement spread throughout Bowery. The minute that they stepped on-stage, the entire room was cast under their spell. “Shapeless” kicked things off as it does on their debut album Youth. It immediately got everyone moving and set the tone for a fun evening. From there on out it was one of those gigs that commanded your best dance efforts.
Lead-singer Keegan DeWitt admitted that it was a dream of the band to sell out Bowery Ballroom. Clearly they already had it accomplished. Even so, they didn’t settle just for that. They rocked the hell out of the room, giving us plenty to take in from start to finish. There are some shows where you just sense that something special is happening. You know, that feeling that you’re seeing a band that is about to break out in a big way. Well, based on what I saw last night, Wild Cub are on the brink of something big. I can only see their star rising further, with the shows getting bigger and bigger.
DeWitt shared with us a personal story about an encounter that he had many years ago with Philip Seymour Hoffman right here in New York City. I won’t dive into the story, as it was something that you should hear straight from DeWitt’s mouth in order to truly take in. But it showed just how far DeWitt has come as an artist, which made the bands recent success that much cooler. They even took time to offer up a great cover of Lykke Li’s “I Follow Rivers”, which was a highlight of the night alongside with their surefire hit “Thunder Clatter”. It was the moment of the night, a song that I think we’ll be seeing a lot of in the foreseeable future.
I recorded their cover of “I Follow Rivers.” You can watch that below, where I’ve also shared photos from both Wild Cub & Hands as well as Wild Cub’s setlist:
Setlist:
1. Shapeless
2. Colour
3. Jonti
4. Wild Light
5. Hidden In The Night
6. Blacktide
7. Wishing Well
8. Drive
9. Thunder Clatter
10. Summer Fires/Hidden Spells
11. I Follow Rivers (Lykke Li Cover)
12. Lies
13. Straight No Turns
“I Follow Rivers” (Lykke Li Cover)”
Hands:
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