Kid Sister didn’t cancel! Hooray! Apparently the last few times that Kid Sister tried to play San Francisco, she had to cancel. However, that was not the case this evening. In fact, it was quite the opposite. Kid Sis was definitely in the house and OMG was it welcome!
I first heard about Kid Sister at the Fader Fort in Austin this year at SXSW, and as with many things that stem from SXSW, it proved to be fruitful. Sadly, this was after she had played, so I was unable to actually see her. Since then, I have been keeping a close eye on her MySpace, looking out for SF tour dates. A few weeks ago, my wish came true, Kid Sis had posted a date in SF at the Rickshaw stop in Hayes Valley, so naturally, I was ready.
I got to the Rickshaw and it was, how shall I say, EMPTY! I ran into some people that I recognized and started talking to them, and one of then informed me that the light crowd my be due to the fact that she had canceled the last four times she booked dates in SF. By the time that opener Lil B, from The Pack, came on stage, there was around 60 people in the place. (I have been told that if you can’t say anything nice don’t say anything, so I am not going to say anything about Lil B!)
The set change from Lil B to Kid Sis was incredibly fast. It started with J2K (Josh Young)–one half of Flosstradamus–who threw down a great set of early 2000’s bass thumpers! The quick set of Ying Yang Twins, Dr. Dre, Too Short and Snoop really got the mood right. In about 15 minutes, the relatively small crowd of about maybe 150 people where ready for Kid Sister. She came on to stage with her new single “Right Hand Hi”.
And from there, it was madness. The entire crowd was there for her and showed it. It’s really nice to see a crowd respond to someone the way that the crowd at the Rickshaw responded to Kid Sis. Her music is full of Grime-y street bass and lyrics that invoke “Ahhh hell Yes!” and the crowd returned every ounce of energy that she put out. I like to think of San Francisco as one of the cities that artists really do like playing in, and that they’re not just telling me this because they know that I live here. It’s kind of hard to argue that SF isn’t one of the best places to play live music after seeing this.
By far-seriously by far-the best part of the night was during her encore when she told everyone to come up on stage with her, and everyone jumped at the chance to do so. She continued to throw down some tracks while the crowd was with her on stage. Ultimately it just became a dance party MC’ed by Kid Sister. J2K started spinning some early-to-mid 90’s club bangers that Kid Sis could support vocally and I guess that was the end of her set and the beginning of the party! It was awesome, high-fives and smiles amongst hot sweaty bodies!
I’ll go see Kid Sister again whenever she comes to SF, but like M.I.A.’s set at the Rickshaw, I find it hard to believe that she’ll ever have a comparable experience. Oh yeah, that’s right, I said it. Give Kid Sister a year, tops. She’s gonna be M.I.A.-status quick. Her album finally drops in less then a month (November 17) and I see no reason why it’s not going to do super well. This electronic/hip-hop/rap fusion is right where a large part of the industry is at right now, so look out: Melisa Young is takin’ ova’!
I first came across Kid Sister at Coachella 2007 and have been hooked on her since. I seen her live 5 times
1.Coachella 07
2.Good Magazine Block Party at 111 minna st. SF
3.Lollapalooza 2007
4.at Mezzanine back in October 2007
5.Coachella 2008
Sadly I wasn’t at this show because I had left out of town the day of and it was too late to alter my plans so I could attend this show. I’ll be picking up her album for sure. I been anticipating ever since she said she was working on it. It’s been long overdue but I think the wait will be worth it.
Just for the record, the DJ was actually AUTOBOT (Curt) who is 1/2 of the group FLOSSTRADAMUS.
J2K, AKA Kid Sister’s little brother, Josh,was the one on stage accompanying Kid Sis.