Young Fathers at 7th Street Entry, Minneapolis (09 May 2015)

Moon & Pollution

Opening up the show was local act Moon & Pollution, who played an uncommonly long nearly 50-minute opening set. The band basically played their entire The Box Borealis album, complete with a middle drum solo intermission.



There was not a lot of banter, except when singer Molly Dean said she was really excited to see Young Fathers, especially after witnessing their soundcheck earlier in the evening.

Mas Ysa

The late set pushed Canadian-born, New York-based Mas Ysa (otherwise known as Thomas Arsenault) back a few minutes, but the solo artist didn’t require much time for his setup.



Arsenault would often joke that he was a Counting Crows cover band or he was playing Oasis’ “Wonderwall”, but the truth is all of his songs were about rejections, longing for love, and depression. Which is strange, especially because the music is set to an electronic dance beat.



You couldn’t really take whatever Arsenault said too seriously. For example he said his mother’s name was Margarita and that he had song coming out this week about his mother. Coincident that it was also Mother’s Day this week. And it was awkward, “because I killed her!”



Most of his set were tracks from his critically-acclaimed debut Worth EP, including the instrumental “Yes”, “Worth”, “Look Up”, “Why”, and set closer “Shame”.



There’s something really simple and compelling about Young Fathers, seeing three singers (Alloysious Massaquoi, Kayus Bankole, and ‘G’ Hastings) just rocking the mic to loops, soundboard, pre-recorded sounds, with the help of a live drummer/percussionist called Steven Morrison.



The majority of their set were songs from their latest White Men Are Black Men Too, except there was a middle block of three songs from Mercury Prize winning debut album Dead: “War”, “Am I Not Your Boy”, and “Get Up”.



Energy from the three singer, all with different styles, remained consisting high, often dancing too hard and sweating throughout their nearly hour long set.



As soon as “Shame” was done, the lights in the room turned off with a Motown song blaring on the speakers. A good three minutes passed and we thought we were getting an encore… but as soon as the lights turned on, there was a huge sigh of disappointment from the audience.



Young Fathers’ White Men Are Black Men Too is out now on Big Dada. The trio’s remaining tour dates: