Hot Chip - King Tuts - Glasgow - Thu 25th May 2006
With a lunchtime in store performance long before their headline slot, Hot Chip had a busy day in Glasgow, no doubt made to feel longer by the hangover the band was carrying from their Jagermeister fuelled exploits in Edinburgh the night before. If there was any roughness to the band, it didn’t show as the early afternoon slot got them into their stride and set the scene for the evening’s entertainment.
Although promoting new album “The Warning”, tracks from the first album were still welcome and “Stevie Wonder” was received rapturously, as its electronic waves bounced and echoed around the venue, perfectly capturing Hot Chips inventiveness and skilled musical output and their sense of humour. Current single “Boy From School” followed and was more upbeat and adventurous than in its recorded format.
As the new material continued, “Colours” was the track that features the band at their most Kraftwerk-like as the melody flows smoothly and the lyrics jerk in that stilted manner associated with the German act. The coda to “Colours” is a beautifully elongated section and is more in touch with the bands soulful side, as opposed to their Teutonic leanings.
Hot Chip thrive because they straddle more than genre or style and when they combine the electronic nature of their music to the more song based touches that the vocals and guitars bring, it creates a sound far bigger than the sum of its parts. Although the vocals are shared about between a few members, lead singer XXXXX xXXXXX’s falsetto voice can stop the listener in his tracks and had the crowd attempting to sing along. There was even a brand new song, so new that it wasn’t on the album and the high tempo funk workout indicated that Hot Chip aren’t going to stop with “Warning” and that there will be more to come.
A two song encore was the reward at the end of the show and it eclipsed the rest of the show, but for all the music had the crowd dancing and thrashing in a way that King Tuts may be unaccustomed to, the lyrics hinted at a darker side to the band. First up was the title track of the new record, a rather menacing track featuring the lyrics “Hot Chip will break your legs, snap off your head, Hot Chip will put down, under the ground.” For most bands this would have been enough but Hot Chip still had “Over and Over” up their sleeve and the entire venue was bouncing to the threats of “Laid back? We’ll give you laid back.” And the best lyrical reference to a monkey with a miniature cymbal.
For a while Hot Chip have been regarded as a band adored by the cool crowd but with a busy festival summer ahead, its hopefully time the band will make it through to the mainstream.
