The Midnight Beast

It was just under three years ago when the three London lads ‘The Midnight Beast’ rose to fame and since then they have managed to clock up over 50 million views on YouTube. Despite this success, I found myself sceptical of their recent credibility with the release of their sitcom earlier this year. Could this (like their forefathers S-Club 7) hint at a career decline? I was not reassured by the army of teenage girls (and a few bored looking boyfriends) making up the majority of the audience. This led me to realise that the target market of ‘TMB’ may be slightly younger than that of us ‘sophisticated’ uni-goers. But the mood changes suddenly. The lights go down. The backing instrumentalists enter dressed uniformly in tiger onesies; more figures appear dressed in fluorescent suits until finally three of them strip off their striped balaclavas to reveal the trio: Class Joker – Dru, Resident Hunk – Ashley, and Fiery Frontman – Stefan. The show starts with energetic choreography carried out both by band members and backing dancers. Straight away the boyfriends are no longer bored, and all ages are singing along. Costumes and props play an important part; shark outfits are worn in their opener ‘I kicked a shark in the face’, before rubber swords are flung about while screaming the profound lyrics “I’M A FUCKING NINJA” in ‘ninjas’. They then take to their respective instruments and show off their musical prowess, unsurprisingly causing all the ladies to swoon. To end the show, they triumphantly deliver their single ‘Booty Call’ as the penultimate song of the encore, before finally finishing with the tune that made them famous; their witty parody of Ke$ha’s – ‘Tik Tok’, which is bellowed along to by the audience, before a BOOM of confetti canons as Stefan thanks the now beaming crowd.