Out of London, and huge across the pond I might add, Hot Chip is your typical English pop/rock band plus some electronic funk plus plus they use the steel drums.
I looove steel drums.
Their lead singer, Alexis Taylor, is backbone to the entire Hot Chip ecosystem, giving the nutrients to rest of band member to feed, and give them strength to push it to the next level. Taylor set the initial tone, came out so strong, and rest of band followed in his footsteps. He also jammed out on keyboards when needed, threw in some much needed maraca, and even played a little line or two on his guitar.
Music meets technology: Band member on paternity leave, sung solo verse of song, via onstage TV screen. Congrats bro. Its a boy!
They played hit “Thieves in the Night,” a single off their new cd, which I didn’t fancy much at all. So bored for a second, I asked Kristina, ( blonde in fedora) what she thought of band, “Hot Chip dips into the happy-go-lucky in all of us,” what a great line.
Next was, “One LifeStand,” there was great use of steel drum, combined with their electro pop. A very cool sound, something I’ve never heard before. “Best song of night, so far”, says Iman, I agree.
Once again, Alexis Taylor, plays, or should I say rips, his guitar for us. What a music renaissance man, minus his sub-par dancing ability of course.
Even this rocking show had a mid concert lull, (down time near middle of set, everyone just need s break), but a perfect moment to admire the perfect evening that we were graced with. Then right on queue, everything picked right back up, JAMTIME; got Iman on his feet, as well as the rest of the attendees of summer stage.
Taylor ended with a gnarly guitar solo, giving everyone, other band members included, a huge energy boost. Left us all wanting more. I bet $5 they would do a encore.
They did and it rocked! Two more great songs.
Not a bad evening at summer stage, I give it a 6.5/10 on the concert meter.
