Born Ruffians & Young Rival: Worth the Spendy Latte
Born Ruffians & Young Rival @ Barboza
November 17, 2015
By Lindsey Potter; Photos by Lynae Cook
I had the pleasure of going to the Born Ruffians show, with Young Rival opening, at Barboza last week and, let me tell you, going to a show on a Wednesday night takes a lot of internal bargaining. Are the bands worth the large, expensive coffee I’ll need the next day on the way to work? Can they compete with my warm, cozy bed?
I am happy to report that both Young Rival and Born Ruffians played great shows. I was quite content drinking my spendy latte while I wrote this.
For starters, I thoroughly appreciated Young Rival’s stage set up. The group adorned each microphone stand with an arrangement of fake sunflowers. Behind them two custom “Young Rival” light boards lazily blended from color to color throughout the set.
Young Rival
Adding to the pageantry, the guitarist emerged from the back room draped in some sort of sequin drape that covered him from his face to his ankles. Once he got everyone’s attention, the rest of the band came out in their own unique sequin jacket/sweater combo.
Young Rival paired perfectly with Born Ruffians, exhibiting a similarly elevated energy level as they played tracks from recently-released Interior Light. The album, the Canadian indie rock trio’s third, delivers heavier, more thoughtful lyrics while staying true to the band’s quirky sound, and they sounded just as charming live as they do on the record. The crowd was pretty unanimous in their appreciation; it was hard not to dance along.
Young Rival
Born Ruffians hit the ground running as soon as they got on stage. No banter… No introductions… They just got down to business. It was three songs in before front-man Luke Lalonde addressed the cheering crowd with a breathy “yeah,” before tearing right into the next number.
Born Ruffians
About half way through their set, they talked about how excited they were about finally releasing their fourth full length album RUFF a few months ago. Naturally, the next song they played from that album was “(Eat Shit) We Did It”… just to make sure they drove the sentiment home. The crowd was happy to celebrate the accomplishment.