On September’s last day, Good Kid came to Paris for their third time for an almost sold out show, nearly doubling the capacity of last year’s gig. An hour before doors opened fans were already forming a massive queue despite the rainy weather. Opening the night was Last Dinosaurs. Despite missing a guitarist, the band still put on an amazing show. Opening sets are usually calmer, but this wasn’t the case. Fans delivered and the whole room felt electric, an omen for the headlining set to come.
As the lights turned off before Good Kid’s set fans screamed, and a wall of CRTs lit up with the concert intro based on their music video lore. The first song started and the band rushed on stage, not wasting a single second before starting with ‘Wall’, jumping around for every riff and chorus. This was followed by ‘Bubbly’ where the crowd immediately gave that energy back, with multiple crowdsurfers landing into the photo pit after their ride, singing with the band as they were dropped and made their way back into the crowd. ‘Tell Me You Know’ then got everyone shouting the chorus while singer Nick and guitarist Jacob fell on the ground as the song reached its finale.
The boys finally introduced themselves, with Jacob and Nick showcasing their honestly pretty impressive French, joking about speaking French the whole show. They also highlighted the night’s antagonist: the heat, as only 3 songs in the room was already feeling unbelievably hot.
A Good Kid set isn’t a Good Kid set without shenanigans and happenings, as their team gave red and blue cups to the crowd. The game was simple, whichever color built the biggest stack would be the next song played. Red was ‘Dance Class’ and blue was ‘Nom’”. People worked together to make their favorite win, as the timer rapidly finished. In the end, the visibly bigger stack was the red one by a mile, until cheating was discovered: blue cups were hidden within the red stack. However, even after removing the incorrect cups, the red stack stayed on top. ‘Dance Class’ was played to an enthusiastic crowd, but ‘Nomu’ fans weren’t satisfied as they chanted for the song when ‘Dance Class’ ended. Nick being an absolute fan of chants, the band caved and also played ‘Nomu’ as people erupted and crowd surfers rose up.
Nick and Jacob would continue speaking French as they explained the meaning behind the next song, ‘Slingshot’: “Beaucoup de choses qui me font le rage. Si vous avez la rage, c’est une bonne opportunité pour expresser ça” meaning “If you feel any rage, it’s a good opportunity to get it out”. The song ended with a crazy buildup that transitioned into the long-awaited ‘Eastside’ as Nick got into the phone booth to sing the chorus. They later asked the crowd if they liked kings, the French crowd obviously answered “NO” as ‘Down With The King’ started.
The shenanigans continued as it was time for the now viral Guitar Hero. As Good Kid asked the crowd if anyone wanted to play, Paris seemed to have picked its champion: Mattéo. He jumped on stage with no hesitation, picking ‘Alchemist’ and playing, completely focused, alongside the band. The whole crowd cheered for him as the score got revealed: 92%, beating all scores from the American tour. That incredible performance was rewarded with a custom Good Kid guitar as Mattéo thanked the crowd for their support.
Lead guitarist David slowed it down, performing alone on stage on acoustic guitar a song about his dad and how you need to cherish the people you care about while they’re still here as one can “not [be] sure how much time we’re gonna spend together”. The whole crowd sat down and turned on their phone flashlights, going from an electric rock performance to an intimate acoustic song. But unfortunately, the heat stayed. David had to stop mid-song because his guitar was “literally melting on stage”. After re-tuning it by ear he started again, as people cheered “you got this!”.
Michael’s turn came next, as Good Kid’s bassist introduced ‘Ghost Keeper’: “Loved someone, the more I loved this person the more she pulled away…in this desperation I wrote her this song”, “In real love there’s no chasing, time in my life where I didn’t love my self”. He would start singing the intro as Nick took over for the rest of the song.
The pace picked up again with ‘Rift’. People got on each other’s shoulders while people crowdsurfed closeby. The heat would once again strike as the band had to take a break before the next song to re-tune each guitar by ear because everything began to break down. For ‘Cicada’, Jacob asked the crowd to sing the bridge in French. The song was met with huge cheers, being the most popular song from their recent debut album Can We Hang Out Sometime?. As people sang their hearts out during the bridge, “Je peux être, quelqu’un que tu devrais connaître”, most of the crowd performed the now famous ‘Cicada’ dance.
Good Kid thanked the crowd for their energy and left the stage, but everyone knew it: this can’t be the end, and they were right. The band came back on stage for an encore, a final moment to share together, and the whole room would make the most of it, starting with ‘Coffee’. Once more crowdsurfers surged, and this time there were even more. They were joined by Nick, singing the last chorus of ‘Summer’ while being carried by fans through the venue. “This can’t be the end, this can’t be the end”.
It was time for the final song, and the band wanted to create a moment that someone will never forget. They invited their animator for this gig. She confessed before the show that she had never crowdsurfed before, and what better song to crowdsurf than the first one she animated for them. ‘Mimi’s Delivery Service’ started as she was lifted and carried for the whole song, 3 minutes of going from one side to the other, and being joined by other crowdsurfers. As Jacob put it best, Paris was “The best crowd ever”. Good Kid showed up for Paris, and Paris showed up for Good Kid.
