“WHOOOO’S READY TO ROOOOOOCCCCKCKKKKCKKKK?!!?!?!?!” was the dire question asked by Sarah Bonito during KKB’s set which captured the attitude at Canton Hall that night, as everybody was clearly ready to get down since the very start of the opener’s, Negative Gemini, set. Negative Gemini has a discography that extends back from 2013, where they carried a more prominent darkwave sound before they evolved to a fully electronic/synthpop sound. It was quite a fitting sound that did well to prepare the crowd for the everlastingly fun set that KKB was preparing for us. Lindsey French, the front for Negative Gemini, had the crowd with their hands up and clapping throughout the set as everyone was caught in a trance that night by the opening of the show. It was pretty loud compared to most electronic opening sets, and I forgot to put earplugs on the list of things to bring to the show tonight to guard myself against the sound invasion.
The percussion throughout the set caught me off guard as there was a drum machine layered with an actual live drummer, which was so in synch I was having trouble distinguishing them for a while until it was figured that it would be impossible to keep such percussive rhythms when you’re only one person. Like every kind opening artist, they thank us for attending, and therefore I hope they see this thank you that I have to say in this show’s review. By the end of their set, they filled up more than half of Canton Hall (a very big Deep Ellum venue if you never had the pleasure to attend a show there), to prepare for a bangin’ KKB set coming up.
Throughout waiting for about 20 minutes for KKB to show up on stage, one could hear the audience having various discussions about the event that’s about to take place before our festive souls. What will they perform? Many were praying for “Sick Beat” and “Flamingo”. Are they going to do any covers like the previous shows? How does Sarah dance in person? All of the questions came to rest as the lights went out and slowly dimmed on Sarah who was a silhouette from our perspective as they opened up with “Battle Lines” from their latest Civilizations EP. Sarah Bonito performed with the hoodie on from her puffy white jacket for that cold autumn Dallas night.
Throughout the show, the band came out with fantastic banter, making sure to dedicate songs here and there to various Dallas landmarks, like Dallas fishes, Dallas car dealerships, and ensuring that every song was dedicated to our city’s hero and highly regarded entrepreneur, Mark Cuban. They let us know after finishing their first couple of songs, that so far, we have been taking “a break” even though all we’ve been doing was dancing and clapping for their performance. Ironically of course, Sarah breaks out the Flamingo figure, “How many shrimps do you have to eat? before you make your skin turn pink” and the crowd busts out crazy with moshing, and jumping like a hardcore concert. Following up soon after that sesh of wild, was an end to our “little break”, because the party was ON when we heard the beginning to KKB’s party song. This of course signalled any calamity to break the hell loose, especially because Sarah shattered the air with her best scream, “WHOOOO’S READY TO ROOOOOOCCCCKCKKKKCKKKK?!!?!?!?”.
Where we then get yells from the band throughout the rest of the set and the audience went wild whenever those were thrown from the stage. This of course includes the inevitable crowd engagement by the guitarst who seemed to contemplate crowd surfing over the barrier, but connects with some of the fan’s reaching hands. For the last few songs Sarah insisted that we all become the “Dallas KKB Choir”, as she whipped out her conductor’s wand and guide us to the sweet song of “Big City”, which everyone complied and gave all of their voices to KKB’s vision.
When they ended their set, they thanked us, and it cost the crowd 5 minutes of insistent yelling/hollering before they were answered by flickering lights that strobed throughout the hall, hinting the return of KKB’s encore of three songs, which stirred up action of moshing, jumping, and dancing. It was a great night to let loose, and KKB ensured we had the best version of it.
