As someone who reviews a fair amount of shows, I can say with certainty that this was one of the craziest.
The performers abated the restless audience with humorous videos and music, such as Ninjasonik’s music video for “Somebody Gonna Get Pregnant”; footage from MTV’s The Grind; an interview with an inebriated Pauly Shore on the Morning Show; an I Heart Comix promotion of Totally Michael; and a slew of hip hop club tunes.
After a warm up session from the DJ, Spank Rock collaborator and fearless rap female, Amanda Blank, took the stage wearing an ice skating uniform shrouded in a dark cape and hooded poncho. Like a lascivious Little Red Riding Hood, the tongue-in-cheek sex panther danced and jerked across stage to tracks like “DJ” and “Might Like You Better”. After an unscrupulous clown in the audience yelled at her to strip, Blank told the audience, “This guy doesn’t think I can rap,” took a gulp from her water bottle and spit it in his direction on stage, “that’s for you.” In addition to her spunk and glow-in-the-dark, neon orange fingernails, the hip hop diva performed a very unexpected and heartfelt cover of P.J. Harvey’s “Driving” along with her own vulnerable track, “I Need Love”.
But for the blithe Brooklyn duo, Matt & Kim had a frenzied crowd that instigated one of the highest energy, contained shows I’ve seen. Matt Johnson resembled Sheldon Mopes from Death to Smoochy with his schoolboyish happiness, gracious enthusiasm, and command of the audience. Tearing away at the skins, Kim Schifino could be seen joyously singing, laughing, or smiling from start to finish, amazed at the warm reception. Later, Matt would describe her, with affection: “She has the body of a 15 year old boy and the mouth of a 65 year old sailor.”
The two words that describe this indie-pop-punk show: crowd surfing. The packed venue sang along to such favorites as “It’s A Fact” and “Cutdown”, but it was “Cinders” that began the constant stream of people taking to the stage and diving off, as if it were a contest at the community swimming pool. And not just moshers, as one crowd surfer was wearing heels. When Kim wasn’t being approached by stage jumpers to snap a photo or whisper in her ear while she was playing, the female band member also partook in some crowd surfing and booty shaking. Performing “All Night”, “Turn This Boat Around”, “Daylight”, along with older favorites like “Yea Yeah”, “5K”, and “Lightspeed”, the duo admitted they were thrilled to be home on stage after playing a nerve wracking set on Jimmy Kimmel the night before. And home was exactly where they were as Kim jumped into the audience to embrace fans before being pulled backstage by a security guard.
Afterward Gooch was slinging free cream from the truck, while Craig and I corraled ice cream recipients for photos. We got a lot of great shots of the party people, so check ’em out.
