Kate Boy in concert

Kate Boy Concert Report
June 9, Wrongbar

This concert is a bit difficult to write about since, while it was a solid performance, it was the briefest concert I have ever been to. The group played for about 35 minutes. Kate Boy are a group of Swedes with an Australian ex-pat for a singer. The group's name refers to an androgynous imaginary fifth member. Despite this odd concept, they deliver fairly poppy electronic music that is reminiscent of The Knife's more song-oriented material. This was my first visit to the Wrongbar and, while it's a small venue, the sound was good and the staging, with a blue light on the front of the crowd, seemed appropriate for the type of music being played.

To date, the group have only released three singles, hence the short set. They presumably ran out of material after playing about seven songs. Unsurprisingly, they played their three excellent singles as well as a few other solid songs that, I imagine, will appear on a debut album at some point.  The singer, Kate Akhurst, was dressed up in her standard outfit of a black baseball cap, black sleeveless top and black leather wristbands. For a singer in a new band, her performance was extremely confident with especially forceful vocals on "The Way We Are". Electronic acts can often be dull performers but this group seemed pretty active throughout with a bass player and several types of live electronic percussion. The variety of drums were prominent throughout, reminding me of some of Peter Gabriel's more percussive material. They ended with their best track, the powerful "Northern Lights", which left the crowd wanting more. Overall, a brief but promising start for a group we'll definitely be hearing more of. Make sure to check out the tracks I linked to above!