marcy mirandaThe Daily Northwestern

The night was young, the venue sold out, and the line-up promising. From the moment the opening band took the stage at The Vic April 17, concert-goers knew they were guaranteed a good time.

The high energy, bouncy pop of The Little Ones started the show on a positive note. The Los Angeles-based quintet stepped on stage with the energy of a teenage band playing the school prom. In between songs, lead singer Ed Reyes made the audience laugh as he joked about his bad parking skills, noting that if anyone saw a van with a popped tire, it was the their’s.

Although the crowd was small at first, The Little Ones got the audience dancing after the third song. Opening with a tune from their six-song EP, Sing Song, the band played a 40-minute set, going through the band’s arsenal of recorded songs, and sprinkling in a handful of them from their upcoming full-length album. The band ended the set with the up-tempo, pop sing-along anthem “Lovers Who Uncover.”

A few days prior to the release of their sophomore album, Yours Truly, Angry Mob, the Kaiser Chiefs played a 90-minute set. The band mixed popular songs from their first album with new material. Fans sang along to favorites like “Modern Way,” “I Predict A Riot” and “Na Na Na” in addition to taking in the news songs like “Everything Is Average Nowadays.”

The success of the band’s first single from Yours Truly was evident during the show. The band opened “Ruby,” – their best-selling single to date – to a crowd that sang to every word lead singer Ricky Wilson uttered in his microphone. The sing-alongs should have been the theme for the show, as fan voices erupted to in a chorus of “Modern Way” near the middle of the set and again for “Riot.”

It remains to be seen who will be Chief: the Littles Ones or the Kaisers. Guess we’ll have to go to future concerts to find out.