by Lauren Rosier
All photos by Lauren Rosier
On Thursday night, Philadelphia based independent rock radio station, Y-Not Radio, hosted their 5th anniversary party at Milkboy. Brooklyn-based rockers Fort Lean along with Dave Monks of Tokyo Police Club helped the station celebrate their milestone.
For those of you who have not been to Milkboy yet, it is a small venue on the second floor of the main bar. It’s cozy, with the stage set at the front around the corner once you come up the staircase, and with a small bar in the back of the space.
There has been tons of buzz surrounding Fort Lean (check out our recent interview with the band). They have had coverage in blogs like Stereogum and Consequence of Sound as well as positive press from the New York Times. At Milkboy, they opened up their set with a highly energetic track that perfectly showcased lead singer Keenan Mitchell’s vocals. Mitchell’s vocal range exemplified in the opening song really blew me away and definitely made a positive impression for the awesome rock show to come.
“Cut To The Chase” is one of the band’s catchiest tunes on the record and really got the crowd bopping their heads to the music in the middle of the set. The room started to fill up more closer to the middle of Fort Lean’s set, so people were able to catch the band’s final few songs.
Dave Monks of Tokyo Police Club fame headlined the show and played with a full band. Monks and company opened the set with “The Rules” a song sung so freely it barely seems like he needed to memorize any of lyrics: “I don’t make the rules/I just play along/And you can’t break the rules..”
The turnout for Y-Not Radio’s 5th Anniversary Party ended up being very well-deserved and no other musicians better to help them celebrate than Fort Lean and Dave Monks.
