hot chip / the showbox / 22 april 2008; A photoset is up now [flickr], more text later.

Before the show, we went to the Green Room for drinks (shorter lines) and returned to the all ages area wonering what sort of crowd this would be. Everyone was there for Hot Chip — the bouncers at the door made sure of that in repeated shouts on the way in, perhaps as a way of alleviating confusion between SoDo and “at the Market” versions of the Showbox — but it was a weeknight, all ages, and the drinking section hovers above; so you can never really tell. Would they be crazy dancers or polite toe tappers? Would the floor turn into a seething mass or remain divided? These are important questions when you’re thinking about getting into the heart of the crowd from the periphery.

It turns out that it was somewhere in between. Hot Chip arrive to their own theme song and meet their gear on a stage set with the album art from Made in the Dark as a backdrop. Passage to and from the restroom was blockaded to allow the band maxium efficiency in their rush from backstage to onstage. I have no idea what they opened with because I was taking pictures, and the listening comprehension part of my brain shuts off when I’m looking through a viewfinder and navigating the crowd. Weird, I know. But it did sound great: the combination of blaring synthetic, live acoustic, and real percussion accents is a winning one. Mix it up with some spotlights, a springy floor, and a devoted audience and you’ve got the makings of a dance party.

Onstage, the band is funny if not a bit mumbly from time to time. The lead singer kneels for particularly sensitive bits. “Wrestlers” is more comedic and less poignant live, but the rap bits (including the backwards part) is funnier and more endearing in person. Al Doyle provides bits of witty banter. Everyone has fun throughout, but the biggest wave of infectious pogoing hits when they dip back into the Warning for “Over and Over”. Among all of the songs in the set, it is the one that comes closest to uniting the crowd. It spreads from stage’s edge back to the chandelier in pulses, and, for a few moments, the room is consumed with one big singular bouncing organism.

They save breakout hits “Ready for the Floor” for last; bringing out slower come-down songs for the encore. There’s no champagne snowball slow dance for “Made in the Dark” even though it feels like it was within the realm of possibility for a few moments. The close out the set with a cover of “Nothing Compares (2 U)” that slips and slides into “In the Privacy of Our Love”. There’s no starlight from the disco ball, but the crowd’s sense of camaraderie is re-ignited seconds after the last notes are played. When “Time After Time” hits the PAs as exit music, everyone sings along. It’s surprisingly magical, especially when the music cuts out and all of our voices fill the gaps.

Related posts:

1. Seattle Space
2. Dance party at the Showbox: Architecture in Helsinki and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
3. Arctic Monkeys: Perhaps mosh pit is a bit strong, but…
4. tuesday agenda: another sold out dance party
5. metric at the showbox