Hot Chip and !!! (chk chk chk) inspire Greek Theatre crowd to show their moves

One song into Hot Chip‘s Tuesday night headlining set at the Greek Theatre, I looked around and saw a bunch of people dancing with less rhythm than Elaine from Seinfeld.

It’s really an awesome thing to see at a concert. Oftentimes, people are too self-conscious to really let loose, especially if dancing isn’t their thing. But all around me, people were “team zero f*cks given” and just GETTING IT on a Tuesday night. British electro-pop group Hot Chip had everything to do with that.

Alexis Taylor brought not just the Elvis Costelo-like eyewear, but his band also brought similar pop melodies to that of the iconic star. Leading off with the single “Huarache Lights” from their 2015 album Why Make Sense?, people were out of their seats until the final encore. At the Greek, you often see people sitting during lulls in the action, but Hot Chip never had any lulls.

Sarah Jones was a joy to watch behind the drumkit, her tempo providing the backbone for many of the night’s most punching tunes. One favorite of the crowd was the seven-minute-long “Flutes” that came early in the set. Like on many other songs, Hot Chip’s ability to build momentum over the course of the song made the payoff that much more enjoyable. “Over and Over” kept things going and the band was on a roll right through “I Feel Better,” a song that has enough tropical beats in it to make me think it is ripe for a remix by Kygo.

“I wonder if they just think, ‘White people are gonna LOVE THIS!’ when making their music,” a friend of mine asked me midway through the set. It’s true, if you looked up the hashtag “#WhitePeopleDancing” on Twitter, that’s a lot of the moves I was seeing around me. Hot Chip just brings the best of the worst dance moves of people.

The band returned to the stage for a handful more songs and very few people left while waiting for the encore. Everything culminated in Hot Chip’s memorable cover of Bruce Springsteen’s “Dancing in the Dark,” which lead into their cover of LCD Soundsystem’s “All My Friends,” which is really the perfect way to end a night at the Greek.

Setting the stage for Hot Chip was Sacramento’s !!! (Chk Chk Chk). If the confidence to dance like a crazy person for Hot Chip was inspired by anyone earlier, it was Chk Chk Chk lead man Nic Offer. The “dance-punk” genre that gets assigned to these guys is absolutely the right name for what these guys do. Though they had limited time on stage, Offer was seemingly out of breath after a whirlwind set, an enjoyable appetizer before the main course would come.

Kicking off the evening was Grimy Goods favorite, Com Truise. Delivering his spaced out elixir of electronic beats, Truise always puts us in the right head space.

UPDATE: We originally had it that Hot Chip closed with “Dancing in the Dark” but they transitioned smoothly into their cover of LCD Soundsystem’s “All My Friends” as a reader pointed out to us on Facebook. The change has been made.

Words: Mark E. Ortega

Photography: Ceethreedom

Hot Chip

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