Pool Kids Turn Troxy Into Their Own Playground

Pool Kids arrive at Troxy, London, for the second of two nights supporting Death Cab For Cutie, and from the moment frontwoman Christine Goodwyne bounds onto the stage, it is clear that the Florida quartet have no intention of treating the opening slot as a warm-up.

Pool Kids @ Troxy

Pool Kids @ Troxy (Kalpesh Patel)

Goodwyne is in constant motion, bouncing across the stage, throwing herself into every beat and kicking one leg out with almost comic regularity, while guitarist Andy Anaya, bassist Nicolette Alvarez and drummer Caden Clinton lock into the intricate, restless rhythms that have become the band’s trademark. There is an immediacy to the performance that makes the four-piece feel considerably larger than their allotted stage time suggests.

The Tallahassee band have been building towards nights like this for years. Formed around the talents of Goodwyne, Anaya, Alvarez and Clinton, Pool Kids have released three studio albums – Music To Practice Safe Sex To (2018), Pool Kids (2022) and Easier Said Than Done (2025) – and their blend of math rock precision, emo vulnerability and sheer physical energy translates particularly well to a room of this size.

Opening with I Hope You’re Right, they immediately establish the pace. The song’s shifting dynamics give Goodwyne room to move between tightly controlled vocal lines and full-bodied release, while the band behind her sound anything but restrained. That’s Physics, Baby keeps the momentum moving, its angular guitar work and rhythmic turns providing the perfect backdrop for Goodwyne’s increasingly animated presence.

“Thank you for coming early and for giving us your attention,” Goodwyne tells the audience, acknowledging the particular challenge of winning over a crowd who have arrived primarily to see the night’s headliners. She makes no attempt to hide how significant the opportunity is. “We’ve been a band for, like, 10 years,” she explains, describing opening for Death Cab For Cutie as something the band have dreamed about. “Dream come true.”

It is a particularly genuine moment because there is no sense that Pool Kids are simply passing through. Goodwyne repeatedly emphasises how much the band enjoy playing London, promising that they will be back, while the performance itself makes a persuasive case for following through on that promise.

Last Word and Dani push the set deeper into the band’s catalogue before Easier Said Than Done, the title track from their latest album, brings their newer material into focus. Here, the contrast between delicacy and eruption becomes particularly effective. The song allows the quartet to demonstrate the emotional side of their sound without sacrificing the muscularity that drives the live show.

Goodwyne’s energy remains relentless. She bounces, spins and kicks her leg out as though the confines of an opening slot are merely an inconvenience, while Anaya provides a more grounded counterpoint, helping steer the songs through their sudden changes of direction. Clinton and Alvarez form the rhythmic engine underneath them, giving the whole performance its momentum.

There is also a refreshing lack of distance between band and audience. Goodwyne repeatedly thanks the room, and when she tells them, “We love you, love playing London,” it lands less like a conventional stage remark and more like an expression of genuine excitement at finally finding themselves in this particular position.

Talk Too Much shifts the atmosphere again, bringing a more immediate, singable quality to the set. Goodwyne encourages the room to get louder, returning to the refrain and giving the audience space to respond. The band’s ability to move between intricacy and directness without losing either quality is one of the strongest aspects of the performance.

By the time Conscious Uncoupling arrives as the final song, the sense of a band making the most of a dream opportunity is unmistakable.

“We just want to say thank you one more time,” Goodwyne says, before giving another shout-out to Death Cab For Cutie and the people who have helped bring the tour together. She also turns the merch table into one final sales pitch, joking that the band’s tour manager will not let them leave until they sell enough T-shirts. It is a suitably chaotic ending to a set that never really stands still.

For Pool Kids, these two nights at Troxy are an opportunity to introduce themselves to a much larger audience, but there is nothing tentative about the way they take it. With Christine Goodwyne, Andy Anaya, Nicolette Alvarez and Caden Clinton attacking every song with precision and exuberance, the band turn their opening slot into a compact demonstration of exactly what makes their music work live.

They may be the support act tonight, but Pool Kids make sure they are not an easy band to forget.