What better way to celebrate the stoner-equivalent of the 4th of July than by taking in some genre-bending indie dance-rock?
Unfortunately, the venue was Webster Hall - a venue regularly populated by aloof, inert indie-snobs, flaccid businessmen desperately clinging to one last shred of hipness, and the unsolicited bridge & tunnel gang. Hopefully, these three inauspicious elements (that usually compose about 2/3 of the crowd there) would swallow their collective conceit and surrender themselves to a night of uninhibited dancing.
The night got off to a sluggish start thanks to opening act Tussle - a five-piece instrumental outfit from California consisting of two drummers, a bassist, a sampler machine, and someone’s dad beating/shaking various handheld instruments. Theirs was very bland music that effectively sucked the life out of the sold-out, 1400 capacity Webster Hall. Thankfully, their performance was brief, paving the way for Hot Chip to recapture our waning interest.
Five sets of keyboard/sampler machines are lined up in a row onstage, each one operated by a different head-banging band member. The archetypal drum-kit is replaced by bongos and a thumping drum-machine. Guitars, cowbells, and maraca’s round out Hot Chip’s aural arsenal, and are used sporadically throughout the set. The hangover from the dull opening act lasted through Hot Chip’s first song, the digitized, hypersonic “Out At The Pictures.” Even hit “Boys From School” only elicited full-body movement from a select few at the front of the stage. Full-fledged dancing finally commenced five songs in with “No Fit State,” a phenomenally catchy, New Order-esque number off sophomore smash album The Warning. The songs from The Warning are far and away the best received, including “(Just Like We) Breakdown” and of course, one of my favorite tracks of 2006, the infectious “Over and Over,” that brought the majority of the crowd airborne.
Oddly, Hot Chip omitted several of their hit songs in lieu of newer, previously unheard material. The most egregious omits included “Colours” and “Arrest Yourself” from The Warning, and “Down With Prince” off debut LP Coming On Strong. In fact, only one song (albeit the best) was performed off their debut album - “The Beach Party.” Aside from the puzzling setlist, there were a few other miscalculations, the first and most pressing of which was the choice of venue. Hot Chip appears to be a band better suited to a club atmosphere as opposed to a traditional music venue. So, this show definitely should’ve been at Studio B in Brooklyn, which has much more of a club vibe, and a more game Brooklyn crowd to boot. Furthermore, they were in dire need of a more engaging, dance-inducing opening act - perhaps Klaxons or Junior Boys would suffice; Or, how about a crazy dual-headlining slot with LCD Soundsystem (wishful thinking)?
Judging by the pungent aromas of Webster Hall, perhaps the ‘occasion’ was the reason why a majority of the crowd opted for head-bopping instead of dancing, although I don’t think ‘Ted Nugent’ has ever been detrimental to a live gig before, so that’s out the door. And it certainly wasn’t the performance, which was rock solid. I guess it was a combination of the elements - the venue, the crowd, and the setlist - that rendered Hot Chip’s 4/20 show a bit of a letdown. Or maybe I’ve come to expect too much from crowds after having spent time mixing with the mental British crowds while studying abroad in London. No, I’m fairly certain it’s the former.
-Marlow Stern
Photo: Marlow Stern
