Black Kids + The Virgins at Webster Hall
Black Kids, c/o Mark Iantosca
Plenty of pretty young things packed Webster Hall Wednesday night to dance their asses off and see The Virgins and Black Kids do much of the same. The two bands with semi-preposterous names were quite the intuitive match for each other ‚Äì spawned from the best of 1980s-90s pop, and unabashedly trendy and tawdry. Shades of the B-52s, The Cure, and Some Girls-era Stones were detectable as the synth and bass popped through the speakers and neon lights flashed. Contextually however, both groups place themselves in the psyche of the under 25 demographic. Most of the bands’ repertoires cover topics ranging from after-school philandering, bloggers, and juvenile heartache, but most vital of all, dancing and partying.
Certainly the two bands do have their distinctions. But with lyrics like: ‚”The world is just a joke/It’s such a mess/You know we got to take it while we’re young /Bottles I just want to hear them smash/I ain’t got no plans on growin’ up” (The Virgins) vs. ‚”Like many a male/ I get angst in my pants/And goddamn it to hell/ it don’t help if I dance.” (Black Kids) it can be tough to discern the differences on wording alone.
No matter, however. The night’s theme was emphasized clearly by the bands and the attendees: be ridiculous, immature, sentimental, and shake your hipster/college student booty off. And thankfully, everybody did just that.
The Virgins
The Virgins
Black Kids
Black Kids
All photos c/o Mark Iantosca
