Chiiild
Shot by Shauna Hilferty
Review by Sarah Evangelista
March 25th, 2023
New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom
This may be a biased opinion, but I do not care. If you haven’t heard of Chiiild and his music yet, you will soon enough. While Shauna caught their show in New York, I was at my third Chiiild show later that week in his hometown, Montreal.
Since the release of his project Better Luck In The Next Life, the show started with the title track of the new record instrumentally. Band members Lauren "LYON" Malyon, Pierre-Luc Rioux, and Maxime Bellavance came onto the stage first, with headlights strapped to their heads, an image to the new record’s cover art. Yes, it was an artistic choice and not just one so they could see where they’re going…
Soon after, Chiiild stepped onto the scene and the audience continued smiling. Throughout their set, Yoni would say ‘we’re going to play some songs off of Synthetic Soul, Hope for Sale, and Better Luck In The Next Life. You’re going to get some old and new tunes.’ It is safe to say that it was a perfect mixture of all Chiiild eras.
They played fan favourites such as “Sleepwalking”, “Count Me Out”, and “Awake”, while also playing new singles like “I Hope I Packed A Parachute” and “(Running Out Of) Hallelujahs”. Yoni would smile at fans having a great time, and would give them a high five as well. Although there were barely any artificial stage lighting, there was a projector which would play moving images for every song, which is something I have never seen an artist do until now.
Again, this was my third time seeing Chiiild live and there is a good reason why I keep coming back.
