Cool Kids Set Starts Slow, Ends Strong

With little fanfare, hype or overblown announcements, Mickey Rocks and Chuck Inglish — collectively known as The Cool Kids — calmly walked on stage at Lee's Palace.

During the first third of the set, they ripped through an endless stream of songs (including "Popcorn" and "Gold Links" from their Gone Fishing mixtape) that seemed to throw the crowd for a loop. Sure, they put their hands up when asked and yelled back when the Kids began a call-and-response — but for the most part everyone seem subdued and disinterested.

While Mickey and Chuck certainly weren't lagging, they didn't have that infectious energy you'd expect from the duo. Sliding back and forth across the stage, they surprisingly didn't try to elicit the missing liveliness from the crowd — content to let their flow continue and at times sounded very blasé.

The heat finally (and thankfully) picked up after Tennille joined them on stage to perform Gone Fishing's "Jump Rope." Perhaps their DJ realized the need to raise the level, or maybe it was planned, but he called Chuck over during Mickey's flow, shut down the beat and seamlessly began pumping tracks from The Bake Sale EP.

Finally, heads started swinging and hands flailing — the crowd was hearing what they came for. "Bassment Party," "A Little Bit Cooler" and "Jingling" all came across heavier than on disc, as chest-rattling bass pounded through the room with the duo sounding smooth and at their peak. During "Mikey Rocks" a sample of Queen's "We Will Rock You" played in the background. The mix was mediocre at best, but brought a bit of humour to the set.

With the night coming to an end, the Kids announced they had one more thing left. The opening line for "Black Mags" began and everyone flung their hands up in the air. There couldn't have been a better track to the end the night with, as the entire room sang along and filled in all the gaps when the beat dropped out.

Regardless of the lackluster beginning, The Cool Kids found a way to end the evening on an upswing. Next time, they'll just have to pick up where they left off.