Hot Chip wow Glasgow Academy on 2010 February tour

Nothing laid back about Hot Chip live

The opening night of a tour can often be beset with problems so it wouldn’t have been too surprising if there were a few glitches at the Hot Chip Glasgow Academy show. It may have been Valentine Weekend but the love was going towards the band and their reworked show featuring songs from new record, ‘One Life Stand.’

Album opener ‘Thieves in The Night’ was the opening track of the set and to say it set the tone would be an understatement.

“Happiness is what we all want” is the major tag-line in the song and happiness is what you get as the song spirals upwards, dragging everyone in the venue up with it. With new material, there is always a concern about how the material comes across in the live arena but they worries were banished immediately.

Perennial set closer ‘Over and Over’ was dropped in halfway through the evening but it made the switch effortlessly. Like an ageing striker dropping back into the midfield role, the song maintained its class and had the crowd roaring its approval. Heck, even the balcony fans were up on their feet and dancing away.

There cant be anyone who doesn’t enjoy the sight of a monkey with a miniature cymbal and the track remains anything but laid-back!

There is a quirky brilliance about Hot Chip, they may look like unlikely champions but as a collective unit, they are extremely strong with every member playing their part. Alexis and Joe are obviously the main elements that fans can focus on but there is a sum of their parts simplicity that makes the band tick….tick….tick…time delay.

The bands recent few albums have been pruned for the set with ‘No Fit State’, ‘One Pure Thought’, ‘Boy From School’ and ‘Ready For The Floor’ meshing well with the new tracks.

It is not as if a Glasgow crowd on a Friday night needs a lot of encouragement to dance but it was provided in abundance and the crowd had their efforts loudly appreciated.

As opening nights go, it would be hard to ask for more and if it is any indication of what the rest of the UK tour is going to be like, it’s going to go down a storm. The band have always been tremendous live but the new material provides an extra edge, making this one of the early must see shows of the year.

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