Milky Chance LIVE @ KOKO 26.8.14

German folktronica duo Milky Chance, who consist of Clemens Rehbein on vocals & guitar and Philipp Dausch as DJ, only finished their secondary education in 2012 but since then have gone on to achieve major success across Europe, most notably with their track ‘Stolen Dance’ reaching the top 5 in eleven countries, charting in the US and earning them 61 million views on YouTube.

Due to the above, Milky Chance arrived at the sold out Camden venue with quite a buzz and the expectant crowd were extremely vocal in their support for the Kassel based act. Opening with a mysterious instrumental piece which was played in virtual darkness, the duo set the scene for the night as they spent the entire evening stuck to the spot in what was possibly one of the most static performances that KOKO has ever seen since its opening in 1900; the most active thing during the entire set being the lights, which it must be said added to the ambience of the former theatre setting perfectly. However, Dausch did attempt to encourage the crowd into dancing on a couple of occasions during the gig, from behind the safety of his laptop and Rehbein did crouch a couple of times whilst playing his guitar and tap his feet so perhaps I’m being a little harsh?

Whilst not being the most energetic act performance-wise, the pair did put on a musically impressive show with Rehbein’s powerful, gruff vocals embodying his passion for their music and tracks like the upbeat, dance-friendly ‘Sweet Sun’ and the laid back title track from their debut album, ‘Sadnecessary’ were examples of exactly why Milky Chance had managed to sell out the venue.

Highlights of the set included the bouncy ‘Flashed Junk Mind’, breakthrough track ‘Stolen Dance’, which had the crowd going berserk when it was played as the final track before their encore and follow-up single ‘Down By The River’ which also gained a positive reaction from the crowd as they clearly enjoyed hearing the tracks they were more familiar with. Whilst also taking the opportunity to play some new tracks during their set, Milky Chance were clearly just loving the opportunity of playing at the iconic London venue with Dausch saying,

“This is an amazing place to play and it’s amazing to see all you people out, so thank you so much!”

An honorable mention should go to ‘Antonio’ who joined the pair on stage and collaborated during a number of songs with his heartfelt, warm harmonica playing which added a lovely additional element of dynamism to the live show which, instrumentally, had only previously seen Rehbein playing acoustic guitar/banjo and Dausch occasionally jamming on his bongos.

After an assured performance at Reading and Leeds festival a few days previously, it was good to see the duo maintaining their strong live performance quality in terms of vocals and instrumentation, even if they were doing their best impressions of statues. Whilst the majority of their tracks have a very similar sound, which does make their album ‘Sadnecessary’ pretty easy to listen to, their live performance ensured that each track had its own vibe and was not just a continuation of the previous one, which is a trap they could have easily fallen into.

If you get the opportunity to watch a live Milky chance show then definitely take up that opportunity as these guys are only going to get bigger and better with their future releases. If you were at the show, let us know what you thought at @Gigslutz_

Matt Tarr
@MattTarrJourno

Matt Tarr

Matt Tarr

Urban Music Editor
With grime and hip hop being major influences on him growing up in South East London, Matt's passion is urban music but over the years he has gathered a hugely diverse taste, ranging from Wiley to The Smiths by way of Machine Head, that has made him a very open minded individual.
Matt Tarr