Hot Chip, Oct. 5, Trocadero

POSTED: Wednesday, October 8, 2008, 12:00 AM

Filed Under: Music Show

Nonchalantly clothed in a bland-colored buttondown and saggy khakis, Alexis Taylor looked more like a necktie-shedding Catholic school boy at final bell than the unflappable frontman of the best live act I've seen in this year.

As far as appearances go, Hot Chip is unmemorable. You see guys who look like them every day browsing the canned soup section in Shop-Rite. Buy they rip. Taylor's delicate, nearly feminine tenor and Joe Goddard's weighty growl bookended that buzzing, between-the-lines tempo the rest of the band is so adept at distilling, bottling and pouring. Touring drummer Leo Taylor lent a hard-copy tangibility to the more synthetic discotheque meanderings of Made in the Dark.

Using the word "sincere" to describe a band seems trite. But Hot Chip was endlessly friendly and gracious to the pulsing crowd, namedropping local boy Dave P and showering the faithful in marshmallow-colored balloons to temper the twitching. (Check out the comments on our video of the Sinead O'Connor shoutout closer to get an idea of just how excited/overexcited we were.) The cheeky singalong "Wrestlers" and an exquisite rendition of "My Piano" off their DJ Kicks mix compilation saw the Chippies at their earnest, entrancing best.

Set list after the jump.

(Pretty sure this is right on, but please let me know if there any oversights or omissions. Asterisks note as-yet-unreleased songs.)

One Pure Thought
Bendable Poseable
Shake a Fist
Hold On
Over and Over
Alley Cats*
Out at the Pictures
Wrestlers
Playboy
Ready for the Floor
Thieves in the Night* (?)

My Piano
No Fit State
Nothing Compares 2 U / In the Privacy of Our Love

Posted by Drew Lazor @ 12:00 AM Permalink | Post a comment

Comments (0)

What we're trying to do this weekend
CONCERT REVIEW: The Postal Service @ The Mann 6/17
ICEPACK ILLUSTRATED: Sunny, Tony and the return of Do No Harm
Behind the scenes of local film A Man Full of Trouble
NOW SEE THIS: Salinger film trailer
ICEPACK ILLUSTRATED: Indian fare rules, Dunder Mifflin lives on, Tom Jones is a god
REVIEW: Archer Live! @ the TLA 1/11
CITY PAPER WRITING CONTEST 2013: Send stories! Send poetry!
CONCERT PHOTOS: The National/Dirty Projectors @ The Mann Center 6/7
ICEPACK ILLUSTRATED: Pink. Diner en Blanc 2. Breaking Glass and Milkboy at the movies. And so on.

About this blog

Featuring everything from event roundups to concert reviews and sex talk, City Paper's Critical Mass is a space for off-the-wall coverage of Philly's A&E scene.

Follow Critical Mass editors Patrick Rapa and Emily Guendelsberger on Twitter:

@mission2denmark | @emilygee

Search this blog:

Topics:

Blog archives:

June
May
April

March
February
January

Past Archives: