This past month we’ve been to plenty of shows: from watching bands play in the Culture Collide Festival to free local shows and even some Bombay Bicycle Club, but there’s one show in particular we were looking forward to: Two Door Cinema Club with Friends and St. Lucia. Two Door always put on a good show — with all the singing, and dancing in the crows. As fun as their show can be, we wanted to see the level of badass-ness Friends could reach in their own set.

Friends isn’t your typical female-fronted band. They’re composed of three chicks and two dudes. Having never of head them before, you’d probably think they’re a cover band mostly filling in with 80s’ pop tunes. This Brooklyn-based band has its cool funk stemming from their very cool lead songstress, Samantha Urbani.

From their single that brought them fame in “I’m His Girl” to “Mind Control,” they seemed to be on a very edgy, very funky theme all night at The Observatory. The venue is really small – one of those “old” hidden gems near LA, hidden from the Palladiums and Wilterns of Los Angeles. So throughout the night you almost felt like you’ve been taken aback, near old school but too new school for funk.

Playing between St. Lucia (whom we’ve heard rave reviews about since their introduction to PopShop) and Two Door Cinema Club (a favorite of ours here at DSIMH), Friends had to step it up to really contend in backing a huge international band. They delivered plenty of waves that could be felt in the dancing crowd. Easy to listen to, but honestly, not the best billing of the night. They were too mellow for the crowd; albeit, St. Lucia can really pump up a venue so maybe there was too much hype to deliver to.

Though they should have opened, their set was pretty amped. Urbani can sing, undoubtedly. “Mind Control” got the biggest cheers and of course Samantha receive the loudest ovation: for looks and her voice.

So between fans being jittery about seeing a couple of  Northern Ireland boys perform songs from their new album and pumped from seeing St. Lucia, I have to say they really performed well. You can’t fault them for being an undercard in the show’s lineup, but you can definitely praise for putting up an awesome performance.

Check out some pictures of Friends from the show and check them out on iTunes:

http://www.afriendszone.com/ — iTunes.