Concert Review: Louis the Child, Oct. 25, 9:30 Club

Chicago-based DJ duo Louis the Child have come a long way since their first hit “It’s Strange” was recommended personally by Taylor Swift on Instagram. After numerous shows at intimate venues like U Street Music Hall and a smattering of middle tier festival appearances over the years, the group made their sold out debut at the 9:30 Club on Oct. 25 in the beginning stages of their “Last to Leave” headlining tour. After the audience danced and chatted with the usual half-hearted fervor reserved for opening DJs, the lights finally dimmed around 12:15am, and the duo waltzed on to stage.

When going to see a DJ group as a headliner, a concertgoer has to make a couple of concessions: the show won’t start until midnight at the earliest, and the artists will mostly just be fiddling around with knobs. Fans of dance music are usually fine with these realities, because in return audiences are promised high production value and non-stop rhythms that will engage them enough to forget the hour of the night, or the fact that the lack of traditional instruments makes for a much less visually interesting performance.

From the start of the concert, however, these expectations fell surprisingly short. As the opening sequence faded into “Fire,” the music was noticeably quiet. From my position in the center of the club, I could hear the conversations going on behind me just as well as I could hear the music. The volume was not the fault of Louis the Child, of course, but it meant that many continued to chat at normal volume while the artists had to compete for the audience’s attention. They eventually broke through with one of their most popular remixes of “All Night” by Chance the Rapper. However, this rang hollow because grabbing the attention of the audience by remixing a recognizable hit is typically a gimmick employed by opening artists, not the artist one pays standard admission to see. This trend continued for the entire first half of the concert, as the audience fell in and out of engagement during the band’s less popular songs and then suddenly revved back up to an exciting remix of “Perfect Places.”

By the time Louis the Child played their remix of “Genghis Khan” and their hit “Weekend,” the crowd was finally engaged. But at this point, half the show had already passed by with few memorable moments connected by lengthy lulls through downbeat songs like “World on Fire,” which they played in its entirety. The hits were exciting, but some of the interludes were simply not loud or engaging enough to get the audience’s undivided attention. Not to mention the fact that they would often have long pauses between songs— a feature that is uncharacteristic of DJ sets, which should aim to keep the audience dancing as much as possible and not let the energy reset.

Their concert was at its best when it challenged the formulaic pop remixes the audience was expecting. Often times Louis the Child would launch into gritty, up tempo remixes and unreleased music that took the audience by surprise and showcased the group’s ability to pull off a wide range of sound. Following a clamorous encore, the loudest the crowd had been all night, Louis the Child concluded with two monumental hits in “Compass” and “It’s Strange.” This was easily the highest point in the night, and the crowd was enraptured, a high energy conclusion that left even slightly disillusioned fans buzzing as they headed for the exits.

Louis the Child is in a sort of musical limbo: they are famous and well liked enough to sell out a decently sized tour, but not experienced enough to fill a set list that can hold the crowd’s attention for an entire set. They specialize in the dance-pop sound championed by the Chainsmokers, and they are talented enough to add their own elements and develop it into a unique sound— a rare feat for dance artists of today. As their concert oscillated between pop hits and ample time for applause to lyric-less club beats, it is obvious that Louis the Child is still figuring out what they want to be. They are still a relatively new group, and they are certainly due for another hit to find its way into the mainstream.