Matt and Kim Bring “Almost Everyday” to 9:30 Club

Last Thursday, I had the opportunity to see Matt and Kim headline their second sold-out show in a row at 9:30 Club. The raucous euphoria of all the acts combined was the equivalent of eating sugar straight from the bowl or jumping on a trampoline in an anti-gravity chamber.

Future Feats set the precedent with their infectious blend of pop punk-tinged tunes. As the crowd slowly trickled in during their set, their upbeat rhythms helped build excitement for the acts to come. I came in just as they turned the lights up and took a group selfie with the crowd from the stage. Soon after, they finished out their high-spirited performance with “27,” a carefree, acoustic-driven ode to the morning after a night of birthday shenanigans.

Tokyo Police Club took the stage next, a band that I fell in love with in 2011 after the release of their highest-charting U.S. album Champ. Their music is oxymoronically lively and laid back at the same time. David Monks’ vocals lilt so smoothly over the cheery guitars and percussion, like a surfboard that effortlessly careens over whatever kind of wave the sea can throw at it. The sound is so L.A. that you’d never guess they were really from Ontario, Canada.

The camaraderie between members of the band was immediately visible when they started performing. During the guitar solo in the first song, and for a few other moments later on in the show, all of the band members circled the drummer and jammed together, which showed how much they genuinely enjoy playing music with each other.

I was excited to hear some of my favorite songs by them live including “Breakneck Speed,” “Frankenstein,” “Wait Up (Boots of Danger)” and “Argentina (Parts I, II, III)” – as well as some of the newer tracks from their dual-part 2016 EP Mellon Collie and the Infinite Radness (a nod to the legendary Smashing Pumpkins album) – and their new single from this year, “New Blues.”

Matt and Kim were the last to grace the stage, but first members of the sold-out crowd greeted them by (successfully) starting the wave and sending it up to the rows in the balcony. The dynamic Brooklyn-based duo built on that energy with their entrance, backed by “Für Elise” and what sounded like a baby reading the script projected on their background display. Right when it got to the part where it said, “Hold on, it might get bumpy,” the dude standing next to me bumped into me and spilled his beer on my arm – as if on cue. That was an indicator of the messiness and chaos to come, but strangely, it only made me more excited to see what Matt and Kim would get up to next.

Their entire approach was reminiscent of a mixed-media art project, which is fitting since this pair met at Pratt Institute. It is a trademark of theirs to incorporate other artists’ work into their shows, and somehow it all works well together. Going beyond the standard fare of lights and smoke, they projected a mishmash of graphics (like one of Kim dancing in front of the Brooklyn Bridge) and memes (like the classic Oprah meme) on the display that played on the wall behind them for the duration of their set, and had little dance breaks to songs like DMX’s “Party Up (Up In Here)” and Princess Nokia’s “Tomboy.”

Our show morphed into an album release party since Almost Everyday was set to drop that midnight. To celebrate, they threw T-shirts, confetti, balloons, blowup dolls and pool floaties (which became vehicles for crowd surfing) out into the audience. They also performed a few tracks from the new release like “Forever,” and an older song of theirs called “Yeah Yeah” that’s been pulled from all streaming services due to record label shadiness (according to Kim).

Matt also took a moment to give us some background about the band’s hiatus last year, which was due to Kim’s meniscus and ACL injury. Matt says he is “more proud of this album than anything in his life.” After the hiatus they were both happy to be back touring because, he said, “I’ve done this for my entire adult life and this is all I wanna do.”

But besides Matt and Kim’s high-energy performance, what really made this night so much fun was the crowd. Kim actually made a little mistake during one song because she said she was so amazed by how lively the audience was. Toward what I thought would be the end of their set, they played “Daylight” (the only song of theirs that I knew well before that night) and went offstage. The crowd was so hype that they came back and did another song for us. This whole night reminded me of what’s so special about concerts that aren’t in large stadiums, and that’s being able to interact with and experience music with the people who make it up close.

For more on Matt and Kim, click here.