A night with The Milk Carton Kids began with a line of fans wrapped around the block waiting to get into the Basement East hours before the show. This being the final show of MCK’s latest tour “A Night with the Milk Carton Kids in Very Small Venues for Very Low Ticket Prices”, an excited crowd waited patiently to get in. Over the past 6 albums, MCK has only increased in popularity and performed in larger and larger venues. This tour aimed to bring the band back to their roots, playing stripped-down shows at affordable prices. “If there is anything this tour proved,” they joked, “its that you all love a marketing gimmick.”
So launched the type of show that this folk duo is known best for. They sang mournful tunes about relationships, loss, and sickness while interjecting deadpan humor and delightfully cheesy bits. Just when you found yourself slipping into a teary trance they brought you back good spirits by explaining the mechanical delivery of their new album. Which, by the way, is on a 10-inch vinyl instead of the standard 12-inch disc.
While this show was in support of their latest project “The Only Ones,” the duo played songs requested by the fans that brought them up to prominence; songs they specifically thought they had outgrown but were surprised to learn their fans had not. The crowd was practically silent the entire set while laughing heartily to jokes and cheering ecstatically after their favorite songs. They cheered Milk Carton Kids to not one, but two encores. They sang the second encore from the middle of the crowd surrounded by cellphone flashlights. The finale was, of course, their best-known tune “Michigan.”
Following the show, Milk Carton Kids came out to the merch table to greet fans and sign anything in need of an autograph. This tour was a direct attempt to connect with the devoted fan base that brought them such success over the last decade. By allowing that fan base such intimate access to this tour and individual shows, Milk Carton Kids have really tapped into a new level of loyalty.
Photos by Caroline Voisine