New Politics reach dance rock heaven

Standing in front of The Beacham, a Downtown Orlando venue, for almost two hours before a concert was nothing new to me. As the line grew and the time before doors shortened, as band members passed and fans contained delight, as neon lights flickered and city streets came alive, the air tingled with anticipation, excitement, buzz. The wait for New Politics’ Everywhere I Go Tour on Oct. 17 was no exception.

The show’s first opener, an intriguing smooth pop act titled SomeKindaWonderful, was thoroughly entertaining. The charismatic frontman worked the crowd while the band member to his left danced with her instruments to the beat of the music. “Reverse,” their most popular song, was an enjoyable sing along and my favorite of the set. Long story short, SomeKindaWonderful laid out a charming mood for the evening.

The last time I saw the second support band, Bad Suns, was with The 1975 this summer. Since then, I developed quite the taste for their dreamy indie pop music, littered with rich vocals, interesting beats and addicting hooks. Remembering a previously strong performance, I had high expectations going into their set. During the first song, however, a look of concern washed over lead singer Christo Bowman’s face. It soon became apparent that he had lost his voice. He apologized, obviously distressed, and accepted a piece of gum from someone on the barrier.

It got worse. Bowman eventually let the crowd and his band members fill in parts he physically could not sing, repeatedly shaking his head with disappointment. By the end, Bowman brought up an enthusiastic volunteer from the front row to perform all of “Cardiac Arrest” with him. Their fans, however, still sang, danced, did not seem to care, salvaging the entire set from potential disaster. Bowman quickly posted a note on Bad Suns’ Twitter page afterwards, thanking Orlando for turning “what could have been a terrible thing” into “something special.” Taking into account my prior knowledge on the band live, I came to the conclusion the whole ordeal was simply a poorly-timed stroke of bad luck.

New Politics are quickly molding a solid name for themselves in the scene with their unconventional punk-pop imbedded dance rock. The trio, consisting of David Boyd, Søren Hansen and Louis Vecchio, now resides in Brooklyn, New York. However, Boyd and Hansen originally hail from Copenhagen, Denmark, the birthplace of New Politics.

After Bad Suns, the technical difficulties continued. Boyd’s microphone did not work for the first song or so. However, that did nothing to slow down New Politics.

As in Bowman’s case, the crowd took over for Boyd, masking the mix-up and allowing the set to rapidly bounce back. The band came out swinging from the incident; the second Boyd’s voice kicked in, the performance revived itself. From there, New Politics was an avalanche of powerful energy that could not be stopped.

Adding to the multifaceted nature of the act, since he was young, Boyd has practiced breakdancing. Amidst Hansen frantically playing guitar and Vecchio hastily banging drums, Boyd does not only sing, he flips, he headstands, he separates New Politics’ live show from the rest.

Energy defined the 20-song set. The middle focused on their more punk-driven self-titled first album. The beginning and end focused on their second full-length “A Bad Girl in Harlem,which represents more of that genre infusion resulting in what I can only define as dance rock gold. “Everywhere I Go (Kings and Queens),” their newest single, was the highlight, a good sign for their next album “Vikings” to be released in early 2015

Even though it has only been a few days, I am genuinely ready to see New Politics again, which, to me, does not happen often with bands. That evening, the group announced their return on Dec. 7 for X107.3’s The Big Orlando at Central Florida Fairgrounds alongside the likes of Fall Out Boy, Weezer, and others. They will also perform for 97X’s Next Big Thing on Dec. 6 at St. Petersburg’s Vinoy Park.

 

Information for this article was taken from http://newpoliticsrock.com, http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCxLhNPgzN3vluZPlCM6gUig, http://www.mtv.com/artists/new-politics/, http://www.altpress.com/news/entry/new_politics_announce_new_album_vikings_through_dcd2_warner_bros._records, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Politics_(band), https://twitter.com/thebadsuns, http://www.x1073orlando.com/s/thebigo/?__federated=1, and http://www.tampabay.com/blogs/soundcheck/97x-next-big-thing-lineup-fall-out-boy-young-the-giant-alt-j-more-coming/2197083.

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