Every time I go see longtime favorite glam-pop band Kitten play a live show, I feel like I burn calories just from watching frontwoman Chloe Chaidez dash around the stage.
I’d challenge any of you to find someone who puts as much energy into a live show as Chaidez and her band Kitten — or anyone who has as much fun on stage. By the end of their Bootleg Theater gig Thursday night, the entire band was covered in sweat and smiles, just the same as the crowd.
I have followed Kitten for a number of years, and they’re firing on all cylinders now. There’s been a revolving door of musicians supporting Chaidez over the years, but this latest batch of bandmates is by far the best fit. The addition of bass player Blu DeTiger has given them an especially funky vibe that was missing from their earlier tunes.
There’s so much depth to the Pink Champagne EP the band put out this year, and it’s no surprise given it was recorded with this band. Those new songs sound especially electrifying live. The title track is a banger. The song “Strange Embrace” is my favorite from the EP — it sounds like a song that would have fit a montage in one of the Rocky movies — and they bring so much energy to the song on stage (I watched this YouTube live version at least 100 times while I waited for the song to finally release).
Chaidez did her usual high-flying moves — getting serious air in a jump off the drum kit, doing the splits, and doing full sprints across the stage. She stood on the shoulders of someone in the crowd while singing. Towards the end, she climbed the lights in the corner of the Bootleg Theater and crowd surfed her way to the front of the crowd.
It was a shorter set than usual Kitten shows, but that’s because they’ve figured out how to jam most of the songs out longer than the songs’ album length. After a crazy groovy outro for “I Did It”, the band returned to the stage for “Fall On Me”, one of my favorite Kitten songs.
It’s insane to me that we haven’t seen Kitten on any big festival bills that I can think of. They’re a perfect band to get a crowd’s energy up. I hope we get to see more of them sooner rather than later.
Words by Mark Ortega
Photos by Tim Aarons
