One Night Stand with Hot Chip: Live in Singapore

ESTIMATED 

 

In watching Hot Chip’s music videos, one could not help but notice the humorous, playful undertone that runs within the British electro-pop band. Case in point: the band was replaced by a boyband (comprising of four clean-cut guys and a weird dude) in the 'I Feel Better' video, while the actual Hot Chip members starred as gawking fans of the boyband. Fortunately then, for their first ever performance in Singapore, they didn’t send in any substitutes.

It has indeed been a long wait for Hot Chip fans in Singapore. The 26th June performance in Avalon was part of the band’s international tour to support their fifth studio release, In Our Heads. At 9:20pm, the band kicked off the night with the album’s first track 'Motion Sickness'. Its lyrics, “Everything spins, everything spins on my head,” somewhat became a fitting prelude to the fun-filled night.

 

BANDWAGON TV

 

Alternating between songs from the latest album, including 80s-influenced tracks such as 'Don’t Deny Your Heart' and 'Night and Day', and old favorites, such as 'Over and Over' and 'Ready for the Floor', Hot Chip got the mostly 20-something-year-old crowd thumping to the hard beat ceaselessly. Even when the slower tunes such as 'Look at Where We Are' and 'Flutes' arrived, 200 bodies continued swaying. Since the band kept their conversations minimal, preferring to let their multi-instrumental prowess do the talking instead, the night became a never-ending streak of dance strikes.

When an audience had exhausted his or her dance repertoire, he or she could easily get inspired by vocalist Alexis Taylor’s infectious dance moves. Such was a sign of the band’s omnipresent confidence in their performance. Perhaps it was the fact that 7 years had passed since their debut album, which was an ode to Hip Hop and R&B music. This has since been replaced by the grown-up issues of contentment and domesticity in their latest album. Of course, these subjects were dealt with à la Hot Chip style – light, but tasty.

When the band ended their 90-minute set with 'Let Me Be Him', the crowd was left upbeat and eager for Hot Chip’s return to Singapore. Yes, the band may not have been as handsome as those dudes from the fake Hot Chip yet, their music would have easily kicked those perky butts home. 

 

Read our interview with Felix Martin of Hot Chip!