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Matt & Kim at First Ave Poster
Matt & Kim Setlist
4/21 – Pittsburgh, PA @ Mr Smalls*
4/22 – Philadelphia, PA @ Electric Factory* 4/23 – Burlington, VT @ Higher Ground* 4/24 – Portland, ME @ State Theater* 4/26 – Boston, MA @ House of Blues* 4/27 – New Haven, CT @ College St Music Hall* 4/28 – Brooklyn, NY @ Brooklyn Steel* 4/29 – Brooklyn, NY @ Brooklyn Steel* 5/2 – Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club* 5/3 – Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club* 5/4 – Charlotte, NC @ The Fillmore* 5/5-6 – Atlanta, GA @ Shaky Knees Festival 5/7 - Toronto, ON @ Phoenix Concert Center * with Tokyo Police Club Read More
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Some concerts are those you just sit back and take in,
but a select few shows are like celebrating your surprise birthday party, collectively with 1,500 of your newest friends—
The latter was the case as Brooklyn duo Matt and Kim returned to the road, bringing the interactive insanity of their live show to First Avenue’s Mainroom, selling the venue out for the first time.
The show’s quick sellout, was no doubt helped out by Newmarket, ONT quartet Tokyo Police Club (themselves a headliner in own right) beginning a three-week support stint after putting the finishing touches on their newest album (due this fall), and releasing first single, ‘New Blues’ on April 20 as an album teaser.
The band enters their second decade live in much the same way they spent their first- brash, layered, and loud, though some of the new songs are to be purposely simpler and slower, according to principal songwriter/bassist/vocalist Dave Monks.
So excited were they on this first date, to debut the new single, they began their forty-minute set with ‘New Blues’ before going into the more familiar ‘Argentina’ from last album, 2014’s Forcefield.
“You guys excited for Matt and Kim? ...we’re Dave and Josh and Greg and Graham” Monks deadpanned before launching into the swirling ‘Not My Girl’ declaring “time doesn’t mean much to me, if you’re not my girl” with guitarist Josh Hook as the band’s secret weapon, casually shredding from his spot on stage right.
2006’s ‘Nature of the Experiment’ from their initial EP, sounds elemental with its keyboard accompaniment, but the revving guitar work and low-fi melodies still drive the song, keeping it contemporary, and the same can be said for 2010’s set closing ‘Wait Up’, the “oohing’ in the song keeping things light and hummable.
Any doubt was quickly erased that Matt and Kim are back- the Brooklyn duo took most of last year off after Kim (Schifino) tore her ACL playing in Mexico, but hip-hop beats and a recording of a child explaining some basic rules, led way to the duo jumping on stage and leading the crowd in a frantic ‘It’s Alright’ to begin their eighty-three minute performance.
Their music itself is a blend of dance-pop with some pop-punk influence, often under laid with hip-hop beats and familiar snippets between songs, but the real magic is in their delivery and the overall stage show which keeps an interactive party vibe throughout.
This is one of the few shows that has a language warning in the description, as both are unabashed to say what’s on their mind and Kim especially, is not ashamed in (hilariously) describing any body parts.
The duo have a new record, Almost Everyday (FADER label) due out in May and previewed a few new tracks, as well as played the crowd favorites to keep things jumping throughout. Crowd surfing (solo, on pizza slice inflatables, and getting lifted to the back bar to get Kim a beer), hundreds of balloons, inflatable dolls, playing drums with err, large rubber appendages, and a traveling sign with video camera attached, beaming crowd footage to the screen behind them, that read “Hit It In the Hot Pocket”, were just a few of the things that kept everyone engaged during their always energetic set.
Kim is obviously recovered from the injury- standing atop her bass drum often and leaping about as she would do previous. “This is quickly becoming one of my favorite shows of this tour” Matt (Johnson) beamed, looking out at the worked up crowd, as the duo slowed things down for a sing-a-long of a Rihanna cover.
Only this pair could segue from their punk-leaning, mosh-encouraging ‘Now’ to a 1984 Van Halen cover snippet, to the happy vibes of their own ‘Can You Blame Me’ in mere seconds, finishing the medley off with a Princess Nokia verse, praising smaller women.
Dancing “like a piece of plywood”, Matt took center stage for a purposely over-dramatic dance over a 4/20 themed lyric set to a Queen melody before giving way to 2009’s ‘Daylight’ to end the main set. The two-song encore began with ‘Please No More’ from their 2016 EP and ended with “your last chance to crowd surf” on 2012’s ‘Let’s Go’, with a handful of people taking them up on that offer.
Tired but happy, the crowd reluctantly filed out, still wanting to celebrate more, but blissful for what they experienced. Matt and Kim still bring the collective party- a concert/interactive workout all but guaranteed to make you feel much better leaving after, than when you first entered.
(click on any photo below to enlarge and see full image)
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