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It would seem as if half of Brighton had battled against the raging elements in order to come and check out The Boy Least Likely To tonight - even Paul Steel and his entourage had made the effort. The lights come up to reveal six gingham clad boys armed and ready for action with keyboards, recorders and harmonicas, they launch into an hour-long set of feel-good ditties which provokes a kind of manic jigging amongst the audience from the word ‘go’.
The boys are a wholesome bunch, presentable enough to be taken home to your mum and yet have an air of mischief about them, as if they have all had a bit of experience with rolling in hay. The hushed vocals and xylophones in numbers such as ‘Every Grubby Little Memory’ give them a Badly Drawn/ Bobby Cook flavour, but the fact that there are six of them boosts the energy and skilfully avoids the sleepiness that this genre sometimes provokes. ‘Box Up All The Butterflies’ is charmingly quaint and stirs up a certain countryside nostalgia within the place.
The surprise of the evening comes when the boys launch into the most bizarre cover of George Michael’s ‘Faith’ that you have ever heard, the song takes about 15 minutes to reach its end because the boys have to keep stopping to laugh uncontrollably - certainly entertainment at a gig but perhaps not so effective as a downloadable single. Towards the end of the set the audience’s attention starts to drift somewhat and everyone is talking amongst them selves and kicking the balloons about which the band have provided.
Boy Least Likely To are certainly charming and cheery but may have limited mileage with their chosen style, however, it is always refreshing to experience a band who don’t take themselves to seriously and are just out for a bit of a fun, and maybe a frolic in the fields, if you’re lucky.
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