Kid Creole And The Coconuts bring the party to Brighton on a warm summers day on the seafront. A full crowd of tropical shirt wearing party goers were certainly in the mood and were not going to miss this rare opportunity to dance to the finest Latin Disco around.
Kid Creole And The Coconuts is the brain child of Bronx born August Darnell who goes under the alias Kid Creole. The larger than life frontman wears colourful zoot suits with a self-proclaimed cool and is surrounded by a huge band as well as three scantily clad female backing singers (aka The Coconuts). The release of their second album Fresh Fruit In Foreign Places (1981) gave them their first critical acclaimed album, labelled “an extraordinary album” by the New York Times, being a concept album in the form of a musical travelogue. A year later, their next album Wise Guy took Kid Creole And The Coconuts to their famed status, reaching number three in the UK album charts and featuring two of their most well-known tracks.
Most notable is their live show, which has become a thing of legend – being more pantomime than concert. Even though the stage of the Concorde 2 might not be their usual concert hall size, there was no doubt that this was going to be a fun energetic night to remember.
The mood was ecstatic and the crowd was pumped, and the 1980s old faithful were out in droves and they certainly didn’t hold back. People were moving – bopping, boogieing, grooving, frolicking, jigging, jiving, shimmying, swaying – as you definitely don’t come to a Kid Creole And The Coconuts concert to stand still. In fact, it is near on impossible to stand still, as Kid Creole’s relentless energy and infectious charisma, together with the bands arresting performance, sucks you into the nightclubish atmosphere without rue.
For anyone who came to the show not knowing what they were getting themselves into, they were treated to the quintessential Kid Creole And The Coconuts party experience – an impressive set of Caribbean/Copacabana funk driven disco beats from a six person strong band, fine choreographed dancing by The Coconuts, and Kid Creole’s sexually charged onstage swagger (think James Brown doing Latin Disco). With crowd pleasing tracks like ‘Stool Pigeon’ and ‘Annie I’m Not Your Daddy’, the ever rising temperature in the venue hit extraordinary new heights, with the tropical rhythms making the place feel like a jungle. The midway point made for a brief interlude and costume change, allowing the band and the audience to take a few moments away from the stupendous heat, and come back revitalised for one big final hurrah. The Kid Creole And The Coconuts show definitely didn’t disappoint, bringing their unique and entertaining performance that never let up.
Iain Lauder