hot chip - live review
February 11, 2009
Not quite the staple Kiwi diet you might expect.
To complete Australia Day festivities in true Kiwi style, my delightful fellow X-pats and I trotted along to enjoy a good old British Band charm the house down with a pop infused, electro funk phantasm.
Hot Chip’s live performance at Billboard that night seriously sealed the deal for me, and I’ve been a die-hard advocate ever since.
These London natives, appearing as though they may have climbed out of a recycled clothing bin in Piccadilly square in 1981, complete with maraccas, keyboards, and black rimmed reading glasses passionately stole each of our little new wave hearts with
all lights a-blazing and some serious bobbing around. Transcendent of all available reference’s, Hot Chip’s sound is difficult to put your finger on, combining pop, funk and electro to a silky smooth paste, then throwing in a hearty pinch of quirk for good
times sake. Surprisingly diverse in their tempo and maturity of tunes, slow atmospheric ballads were timed in with massive hits like the contagious ‘Over and Over’ and ‘Ready for the Floor’, successfully pulling the avid crowd from a memorized trance into
a seething mania of dance-o-rama. And dance we did.
Stage-men to the bitter end, (I’m pretty sure the keyboardist was throwing down the keys with his forehead, and I’ve never witnessed guitar swaying quite so sensual as that night) it was apparent these guys were doing exactly what they loved, with a
cherry on top – a professional show from start to finish, the sound mixing, stage presence and pure enthusiasm made the performance provided a fantastic kick off to my 2009 Live Gig bender.
So go purchase they’re album boys and girls, grab a hair brush and a mirror and give it some volume. You would be rude not to.
