This past Wednesday marked the unofficial start to the festival season as YLC Wednesday at the Square kicked off in Lafayette Square. It is a free, 12-week concert series with food and drink for sale to benefit the Young Leadership Council. You can get a full list of concerts here. This season’s first headliner was Royal Teeth, a Baton Rouge/Lafayette/New Orleans based indie-pop band that was formed in 2010. The group consists of singer and guitarist Gary Larsen, singer Nora Patterson, guitarist Thomas Onebane, bassist Joshua Wells, and drummer Josh Hefner.
Wednesday’s set was comprise of material from their debut EP Act Naturally and their massively popular album debut Wild as well as a few energetic covers and new material that will be released later this year. Of this new material they played their first single “Kids Conspire.” Like the rest of the new material, “Kids Conspire” seamlessly fits into the set. The music lends to an energy that is beyond infectious and danceable. The large stage gives way to Gary and Nora’s marathon energy and at time couldn’t even contain Gary. If he’s not interacting with the audience in some fashion, he’s honed in to whatever instrument he’s playing or singing. Nora feeds off that energy, which in turn propels their set forward. One nice quiet moment was when the two did their “Landslide” cover. In that moment you couldn’t help see what really makes them click on stage. Those glimpses were seen all night, but “Landslide” was more than a culmination of those moments. As expected the audience went crazy as the band launched into the main set closer “Wild.” After a small break, the band came back and did a two song encore. The band will be heading out on tour supporting The Summer Set in April as well as making a Jazz Fest appearance. You can see more pictures here.
