Young Fathers live at 3Olympia Theatre: Potential gig of the year from Scottish trio

Genre-transcending trio Young Fathers brought their bombastic and intense live show to 3Olympia Theatre on Wednesday, March 1.

The group, fresh off the release of their fourth full-length studio album, Heavy Heavy, were accompanied by backing singers and musicians on stage as they performed a chaotic yet exceptionally tight one hour set.

The energy and rapport with the crowd was evident from the jump as they began with two tracks, ‘Only Child’ and ‘Queen is Dead’ from an early EP, Tape Two, sandwiching a new single, ‘I Saw’.

The energy only built from there as songs from their most popular records, White Men are Black Men too, and Cocoa Sugar were added to the mix.

Young Father’s brand of alternative-hip hop, punk, experimental-pop and everything in between loans itself to a diversity of styles of performances, and that certainly what was experienced on the night – from the loud to the quiet, from the touching to the ferocious.

The most memorable moment of the evening came during the final song, ‘Toy’ when singer Kayus Bankole climbed from the stage into one of 3Olympia Theatre’s famous booths on the second floor – all the while singing and dancing – as a riled up crowd looked on in amazement from underneath.

As the crescendo of overdriven synth, microphone feedback and impassionate vocals came to a crashing end and the crowd shuffled towards the exits, it was clear that Young Fathers had just put on possibly the concert of the year.

Photos by Gary Ibbotson