Photos by Rachel Frank
By: Amanda Martinek
Tall people, small people. Round people, thin people. Boy people, girl people. What did this large crowd of people Wednesday night at the Observatory in North Park have in common? They came to dance to Hot Chip and truly gave zero fucks about things like “rhythm” or “style”. They just wanted to fucking move.
YACHT, the alternative electro duo from Los Angeles started the night by getting everyone’s muscles nice and warm (so nobody would pull a muscle later). I unfortunately missed the pre-dance dance, as the show started at the ridiculous hour of 7 PM. But I can say with a reasonable amount of certainty that they killed it.
Hot Chip was up next, as six nerdy Brits wearing large flowing white clothes, or silver jumpsuits, or pajama pants or Hawaiian t-shirts, took the stage and posted up at keyboards on keyboards on keyboards. Sarah Jones (of New Young Pony Club), wearing a contrasting coral jumpsuit, sat and tore the shit up out of the drum kit.
And once it began, it didn’t stop. Racking up electro dance hits since 2004, Hot Chip has an impressive amount of fun snyth-pop songs that get the worst, most awkward dancers among us flailing and gyrating and full of joy and hope and passion. The people standing with their arms crossed and shoulders tense become the weirdos. It’s a truly magical occurrence.
Wow-ing the crowd with early Top 40 hits like “Over And Over” and even their newest single “Huarache Lights” off sixth studio album Why Make Sense there were tracks for old school and new Hot Chip fans alike. They even surprised us with a stellar cover of Bruce Springstein’s “Dancing In The Dark”, leaving in sound bites of LCD Soundsystem’s “All My Friends” during the encore. Lead singer Alexis Taylor brought his young daughter on stage to help with percussion and, just like their songs, it simultaneously lit a fire and melted our hearts.