Live: Hot Chip

Hot Chip put on a killer show Saturday night at the Fonda, thus reminding me how much I hate humanity.  I was prepared to dance going in to the venue, but nothing could prepare me for the drunken fools who were also prepared to dance but were ill equipped to do so through a rare combination of ineptitude and inebriation.  So before I tell you anything about the concert, I just want to say that if you are dancing on people’s feet or you notice a circular space form around you when you begin to dance, you need to go to the back of the venue and do your thing where you cannot bother anybody.  sheesh.

Now I had never seen Hot Chip before Saturday night and I was quite impressed by the blend of professionalism and fun they provided.  Fans were treated to cool lighting effects layered behind the band and on their synthesizer/computer stands, thus proving you do not need to be U2 to provide something beyond your standard random shades of color lights.  The band’s six members were arranged in a horse shoe shape and appeared to be as geeky as one would think by listening to them (the overdressed girls behind me complained that there was only one “hot” chip and I assumed they meant the one who looked like Gael Garcia Bernal).  The energy they provide gradually grew throughout the night as they extended every song they played into extravagant electro-jams, showing tremendous chops in their ability to take a song and transform it completely.  In fact most of their songs sounded like remixes of themselves, which is what I expected from a band that has five out of six members manning a synthesizer of some sort.  Highlights included a more rocking version of “Colours,” the set closer “No Fit State” and the final song of the night “Over and Over”.  Hot Chip on MySpace.