There is a beauty in simplicity. Our world, with it's political, digital, and cultural complexities, feels tenser every day. These push us toward something different. We seek escape; something fun simply because it can be.
Enter Louis the Child, the funky duo made up of Chicago-natives Freddie Kennedy and Robby Hauldren, who have embarked on a meteoric rise in popularity since bursting onto the EDM scene in 2015 with their hit single It's Strange.
There is an irony to the title of the track, which remains their most popular to date. On Saturday, Dec. 9, Louis the Child brought their Last to Leave tour to the Fox Theater in Oakland, and during the show, I realized that it's a surprisingly accurate description of how it can feel to see them live.
This was their first appearance in the bay area since they appeared at San Francisco's Outside Lands festival in August. Throughout both performances, I found myself thinking about how strangely fun it is to groove along with two young artists, whose live shows consist of little more than them slapping their upbeat and vibey tracks behind a laptop and standing on an oversized table to dance and fire up the crowd.
From slower tracks like Slow Down Love from their 2017 Love is Alive EP and their remix of Oh Wonder's Body Gold to harder bangers such as their take on Ty Dolla $ign's Blasé and their own original, Fire, there is a poppy, joyous vibe to all of their work. Hauldren once told the Chicago Tribune that their music "has something for everyone. They're all sing-along, get-remembered songs. We're trying to make songs that are going to become the soundtrack of your life."
With help from featured vocalist Ashe and an accompanying trumpet player, the live performance of their previously freshest single Get Right To It is nothing short of a jubilant party. Inspired by the moment, Hauldren bellowed to the crowd, "I want you to take the happy, positive energy in this room right now, take it out into the world and do something with it!"
The two will wrap up their current tour with its final stop at the Palladium in Hollywood on Saturday, Dec. 16, along with a one-day pop-up shop being held today. They released their latest single, sharing the same name as the tour, Last to Leave, last night at midnight and announced additional European stops for the tour, extending it through early March 2018. Hauldren and Kennedy, who recently signed to Interscope Records, have been working on their debut album for a while and say they are sitting on hundreds of unreleased tracks. With their work already in use in big brand TV advertisements and another festival season right around the corner, it shouldn't be strange to anyone to expect even bigger things to come from these young rising stars.
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Words and Photos By: Aaron Nelson