The Shoes

Scattered shouts from the massive audience meld into the opening keyboard and guitar notes for the song “Time To Dance”. White strobe lights flash across the black stage, illuminating the four drummers, three singers, and keyboardist standing onstage. Suddenly, all four drummers begin to play at once, causing a rushing torrent of sound to envelope the listeners, while at the same time the other instruments pick up speed and intensity. The explosion of sound fills the room, amplified by the high ceilings, vibrating through every member of the audience and sending them into a moving, dancing, frenzied mass. Such is the chaos of a concert from The Shoes. The Shoes is an electro-rock band from France which formed in 2007. Benjamin Lebeau and Guillaume Briere are the producers and songwriters, and they, along with a variety of musicians, make up the group. Their first album, Scandal, was released in 2009 and includes hits such as “Knock Out”, “America”, and “Whips Like A Clap”. Crack My Bones, their second and most recent album, was released in 2011 and includes songs such as “Time To Dance”, which was also a hit single, and “The Wolf Under The Moon”. Both albums contain loud, crazy music which you can't help but move to. When listening to The Shoes, it is impossible to sit still. The Shoes produce great music and a rockin atmosphere. They are not to be missed in concert!

The French group of The Shoes gave the best electronic performance that I’ve ever seen. Their set up has that of two percussionists both on drums, playing mostly synchronised beats in a very stylised way, and the use of two drum kits was innovative and exciting. Guillaume Birere and Benjamin Lebau also switched between their vocals and guitar to jump on synths and drums too, creating an incredibly vast sound.
Their abilities to play multiple instruments as well as to DJ is what makes them unique, because their fusion of the live and pre-recorded music is something that a lot of Electronic acts are lacking in. They opened the show with Time To Dance, from their 2011 album Craxk My Bones, which was electric and has them all rocking out to their full abilities on their instruments. They then moves back to their EP Knock Out from 2008, before returning to Crack My Bones to play through the hit tracks.
As well as being insanely talented, the duo were incredible at interacting with the audience, shouting out encouragement to join in whilst they were performing, as well as telling jokes between their tracks. They’re born performers, and their studio recordings really don’t do their talent justice, I’d get down and see them if you have the chance.