Hot Chip Brings the Dance
By Sarah Cobarrubias in Arts & Entertainment on Apr 21, 2010 3:40PM
Admittedly, we had a little pre-show skepticism about Hot Chip's sold out concert Monday night at the Riviera. Not only is the Riv a little too large for our taste, but also the British electropop act’s newest album, One Life Stand, wasn’t quite what we expected. Because it was unusually full of slow love ballads -- some too underwhelming compared to the cheeky, glitchy, emotionally-charged dance beats Hot Chip is known and loved for -- we feared the concert might be more like a high school slow dance than a wild dance party.
But Monday night, Hot Chip delivered exactly what we wanted; they took their most beloved songs from all four of their albums to create a setlist that that could easily be used as a tracklist for their “best of” album. Among them were “Over and Over” and “No Fit State” from The Warning, and “Ready for the Floor” and “Shake a Fist” from Made in the Dark. And they performed some of those less danceable tracks from One Night Stand, like “We Have Love,” with such vigor and emotion that even the balcony dwellers were on their feet. Sure, the Riv was so packed that any dancing resulted in a bump and grind circle with the people around you, but that just made the rave more infectious and helped incite the high-energy dance party we hoped for.
The show concluded after a four-song encore, but the festivities weren’t over. While openers The xx held their afterparty at Beauty Bar, we followed Hot Chip over to Smart Bar for their late night DJ set. The five-some switched off on the turntables, two members at a time fusing a variety of genres and taking from their personal album collections to entertain hyped-up Hot Chip lovers and nightclub regulars alike. Though the band was surrounded by security, Smart Bar gave us an intimacy that the Riv lacked and a few up-close glimpses of those loveably geeky Londoners.
Missed the show and need your Hot Chip fix? Check out the band’s brand new single, “I Feel Better,” at their official site.