There's always one of those people in every band. A Flea, a Kevin Barnes, a Courtney Love--a loaded gun that adds a terribly gripping sense of tension to his live performance. Maybe this will be the show a deli tray is thrown; maybe tonight everyone will be fully clothed….or not. The best part of going to a Matt & Kim show is realizing they are both loaded guns, and every time they go off, everyone in the audience bleeds happiness.
Matt & Kim don’t have much of a schtick. They are just two people with goofy smiles who play their instruments with frenzy. That’s it. But the frenzy they conjure is more than the majority of trios, quartets and most other herds of musicians create combined.
On this night, Kim looked shockingly like Animal from the Muppets, only with more stamina and a penchant for hip-hop booty jams. In her bright orange shirt (that was safety-pinned together) she drummed more like a cyclone than a human. How she doesn’t have nasty arthritis in her whole body, I’m not sure. She proved herself to be skilled in the matters of crowd interaction when she easily deflected a marriage proposal with the simple question, “What can you do for me?” When the dude didn’t have an answer, she scolded him in the friendliest way possible and said he needed to be “quick on that shit!” When he finally thought of a comeback and said “I’ll give you everything you’ve ever wanted” (barf) she looked out at us and said simply, “Everything I ever wanted is right here!” and then kicked up for another song.
Matt was slightly calmer, in that he didn’t crawl on top of the crowd to have a dance party. He also didn’t stop playing just because someone wanted a high-five before stage diving (not that Kim did). Yes, of the two he showed the most restraint….kind of. He just climbed the speakers, stood on his chair and complimented Portland as being one of the wildest crowds ever.
There was a sweetness to the show that isn’t always present with some bands. Matt admitted they were playing every song they could play well (which included Alice Deejay’s “Better Off Alone”), and when the last song was announced as the last song, we all believed it. Of course that last song was “Daylight.” Matt was kind enough to dedicate it to everyone that has had a tough day, month or year, and the crowd responded with returned adoration. When the song ended, they took a few minutes to shake hands, give hugs, and say thanks to the crowd. Who says East Coasters have to be aloof?
