Phew, what a night.
There’s just one thing I hate about winter concerts in New England, and it’s that no matter what, it’s always going to be cold at night, forcing concert-goers to bundle up in long sleeves, sweatshirts, or coats. It seems like a good and normal idea at the time, but once you’re inside the venue and are forced to share space with hundreds or thousands of other fans, who are especially aggressive and less willing to lend you space as the night progresses, it tends to start heating up to impeccable levels, making you completely regret the decision of ever bringing along your coat or sweatshirt to the show.
That was just the case on Saturday night (Nov. 6, 2010), as six of my other floor mates and I traveled a town over to see the dynamic duo of Matt and Kim perform at the Pearl Street Nightclub in Northampton, Mass.
With just two shows remaining on their tour, Matt and Kim were particularly ecstatic to play in the New England area in front of a somewhat home crowd – Matt being from Brattleboro, Vermont and Kim from East Providence, Rhode Island. Ever since meeting at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn in 2004, the two have earned great success and a substantial following stemming from their three studio albums – the self-titled Matt and Kim in 2006, Grand in 2009, and Sidewalks, which completed the trifecta with its release last Tuesday and also peaked to the No. 3 slot on the iTunes charts.
With the success of their latest album blooming, Matt and Kim arrived to Northampton on Saturday night to a sold-out show. First, however, were the openers, which featured the small two-piece duo folk band Fletcher C. Johnson. Fletcher, the older brother of Matt, headlined the band on guitars and vocals with his partner Thomas O’Brien aka Tommy Guns on the drums.
Fletcher gave the energy-seeking crowd a short reminder of why he hasn’t received near the amount of popularity of his sibling, playing a six song set that, while not horrible, just didn’t fit into a concert that featured the dance-themed groups of Javelin, who opened after Fletcher, and Matt and Kim, in my eyes. I felt more like I was being warmed up to a country lineup of someone like Toby Keith or Kenny Chesney, let alone a dance rock group of Matt and Kim.
Nonetheless, if you can get by a bit of a squealing voice from Fletcher here and then, it was a decent opening that brought some energy and a unique sound to a crowd that may not have discovered a sound like theirs without their presence on stage. This is the same tour that featured southern rapper Donnis (one of my favorite modern rappers, by the way, and I was completely bummed to see that he would be getting off Matt and Kim’s tour a week before the Northampton date) that didn’t exactly fit the billing of a Matt and Kim concert either, so I won’t give them too much grief for that. There could have been worse, and there definitely could have been better openers, and I see the performance as no more than Matt giving his brother some spotlight that he otherwise wouldn’t get without him.
It was a night of music duos, as the multi-genred dance-themed crew called Javelin hit the stage shortly following Fletcher. Setting up a turntable center-stage and group leader George Langford on the microphone, the team brought more of what the crowd was looking for through a plentiful of dance mixes that reminded me a bit of the mash up/remix group named The White Panda, who performed at UMass in September. Through their hits “Vibrationz” and “Radio,” Javelin sent the sold-out crowd into a groove and clearly brought out more energy in the club, bringing the anticipation level for Matt and Kim to its brim.
Unfortunately, the quality of sound, primarily on the microphone, wasn’t exactly up to par, leaving the crowd unable to hear George’s singing on the mic. Perhaps it was the result of a nightclub’s inability to deliver quality sound or the sound guy for Javelin just had an off night, we’ll never know, but it definitely took a bit away from the experience. Still, the quality rhythms and beats delivered by the duo nearly made up for it and altogether provided a successful build-up to Matt and Kim.
Finally it was here, what everyone was waiting for. Or was it? After what was a rather quick intermission between Fletcher and Javelin, the crowd was left wondering when the hell Matt and Kim would show up after Javelin. While listening to the overplayed tunes such as “Magic,” “All I Do Is Win,” and “Power,” the anxiety of the crowd only built up, as we were forced to stare at a finished stage completely set up for the headlining acts, but missing the main ingredients.
After the extended wait, the crowd was rewarded with its patience and was sent into an absolute frenzy as Matt and Kim ran out before them, and the beloved duo got right into the music, sending everyone jumping, screaming, and dancing to the keyboarding melodies and drum beats being played before them.
Balancing the amount of songs from all three of their albums with hits such as “Yea Yeah,” “Good Ol’ Fashioned Nightmare,” and “Silver Tiles,” Matt and Kim had the sold-out crowd rocking, jumping, moshing, crowd-surfing, and just going absolutely chaotic to every rhythm on the keyboard and kick on the drums.
The breath-taking (literally breath-taking, I almost passed out after a few songs) duo was also very interactive with their audience, throwing balloons for everyone to blow up and toss around throughout the show and talking to everyone between songs – which is personally something that goes a long way with me. Many performers I see are too invested in themselves and selfishly care too much about how they are playing that they forget the reason they are here in the first place – the fans – and it was fantastic to see Matt and Kim be as involved with the fans as they were. One of my favorite parts of the night was when they asked everyone crowded in the middle of the stage to put their hands up to let Kim walk on to the crowd and do her infamous “booty dance” (you can check it out in the videos below). It was really a sight to see and really showed off the two’s entertainment value.
Surprisingly, Matt and Kim didn’t play too many songs off of Sidewalks, and played more stuff from Grand and their self-titled album. They were also unique in the fact that they played a few covers, which included the crowd-friendly “Just a Friend” by Biz Markie, which slowed things down for a little, letting everyone catch their breath while also singing out a classic. It was probably a smart idea by the couple, who probably assumed that the crowd wouldn’t know all of the lyrics off of songs from Sidewalks and realized that they achieved their fame through their first two albums. Nevertheless, they killed it.
Naturally, everything led to their final song, and it was no surprise what it was. If you went to a Matt and Kim concert and didn’t know what this song was, then you really have no business going to a Matt and Kim concert at all. Ever since “Daylight” released in 2009, it has reached such a high level of success, being featured in a Bacardi commercial, reaching the Billboard Hot 100, and in all honesty, put Matt and Kim on the map. As you can see in the video below, Matt tricked the crowd a bit, who knew this was their final song, starting the song with slow melodies that didn’t resemble “Daylight” by any means. But suddenly, Matt broke into the song that everyone in the room recognized, sending the crowd into chaos one last time. If you had a pulse in the room, you were off your feet.
The show ended on that note, and from the perspective of someone like me who really didn’t know much about Matt and Kim and wasn’t expecting much from the concert, I was absolutely blown away. Looking back, it will probably be one of the most memorable musical performances I will ever witness. It’s no wonder that when I was walking down the hallway of my dorm after the show and someone asked “How was Matt and Kim?,” only one word could come to my mind.
Unbelievable.
Check out some live videos of the concert below, courtesy of YouTube.
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