Chicago electronic duo Louis the Child first caught some buzz when its 2015 breakout single, “It’s Strange,” was picked by Taylor Swift as one of her “songs that will make life awesome.” Few acts get recognition from stars. Even fewer get that nod before they reach legal drinking age.
20-year-old Robby Hauldren and 19-year-old Freddy Kennett started performing nationally when they were still in high school. Despite their young ages, they played shows in bars and clubs that they otherwise wouldn’t have been able to enter. In 2016, Hauldren and Kennett embarked on their first national tour which ended with a performance at Coachella.
As a part of their North American tour, Louis the Child will perform at 8 p.m. Thursday at the Bluebird Nightclub with support from Imad Royal.
Marketing director for the Bluebird Patrick Milescu said the sold-out show has been creating a lot of excitement around Bloomington.
“Louis the Child is a duo that has become very popular very quickly,” he said. “Both of the members are very young and have had some great musical success for their age. It will be exciting to see where these guys go after another couple years.”
Hauldren and Kennett met through mutual friends at a concert for popular future-bass artist Madeon. The two were already producing mashups on their own under the monikers Fatboy and Haul Pass, but decided to join production forces after finding their mutual interest.
Since debuting around clubs in 2013, Louis the Child has made appearances at some of major music festivals including Electric Forest, Lollapalooza and New York’s Electric Zoo.
With support from Washington, D.C., producer Imad Royal, Thursday night’s performance will be another installment of the Bluebird’s growing features on electronic music. Milescu said the shows with bigger electronic acts have been doing fairly well with the Bluebird’s audiences, and he expects the demand to grow even further in the future.
“The students really seem to enjoy it,” Milescu said. “Especially by this upcoming fall, people can probably expect to see a lot more electronic artists being brought in to play the Bird stage. Big names mostly, but there have been a few local DJs around here who have been doing well playing the Bluebird recently.”
