Asian Dan

I caught Kindness down at the Fader Fort down at SXSW back in March and was very excited to see the live rendition of Adam Bainbridge’s project. Kindness did not come with their A-game at SXSW, granted it was their third show as a band and they did not have a proper soundcheck, I was mildly disappointed. I am a forgiving person and decided to give them a second chance and caught them live last night at Le Poisson Rouge at Josh & Dave P’s Fixed party. My experience was far from what I heard and saw down at SXSW, for they put on one of the most fun and entertaning shows I have been to in a while.

It seems that some hefty rehearsing and gigging got the band into shape but they are far from being the massive band they could be. Kindness’ set included all the singles, “Cyan”,”Gee Up”, “Swingin’ Party” and the latest “House” which turned into a giant sing along/dance party with Adam dancing in the crowd. Adam spent at least half of the set wandering around the crowd teasing people, case in point Adam stealing an audience member’s glasses during “House”. “Bombastic” was a surprising song that translated well into the live setting, taking the swing-jazz/psuedo-Gainsbourg tune into bombastic jam session that included Adam shuffling through a pile of CDRs during the musical heros roll-call bridge in the song. “Doigsong” and “That’s Alright” were massive funk jams with so much slap bass that I could not resist. The band paid a tasteful tribute to Donna Summer during the intro for “That’s Alright” as the two back up singers sang the hook of “Love to Love You Baby”. The most surprising song played during the set was a tasteful cover of “Jasmine” by the hypemachine that is Jai Paul which included Adam singing the hook of “House” while his back up babes crooned the “Jasmine” lyrics.

Some of the audience may have found Adam’s crass humor and banter to be the product of his pompous Britishness while some found it extremely charming. In the end how can you be mad at a man that jumps into the audience and awkwardly serenades his own look alike hipster fan in the crowd. In the end I cannot hate on this next level self-aware troll, when an artist so serious about his Pop craft can just jump into the crowd while singing and dance to his own songs in order to have some good ol’ fashion fun. #doitforthelolz #someta