Echostage

Music Park: Morrissey @ Echostage — 6/17/15

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Morrissey admirers reach for their hero at Echostage on Wednesday.

“We were supposed to be here previously, and we couldn’t make it,” Morrissey said at Echostage Wednesday night. After a dramatic pause, he added, “The suicide rate in this band is very high.”

Speaking in reference to several cancelled shows in the DC area over the past several years, the latter part of that statement was offered as sardonic consolation to the audience via a bit of typically morbid humor from the Poet of Manchester, who actually then proceeded to put on a damn fine show.

The very very full Echostage was held rapturous as Morrissey and his longtime band (all of whom are hale and hearty despite his witty offering) dove into a robust set of 19 songs and one encore. The set focused heavily on rather good new material by Morrissey from the album World Peace Is None of Your Business — an odd album to be certain as it is not widely commercially available at the time of this writing due to a fallout last year between Morrissey and his label.

Regardless, Morrissey’s concert performance was entertaining in its own right, and what better way to get to know new songs than to enjoy them live? And more than enough people knew the lyrics to numbers like the title track “World Peace Is None of Your Business,” which revisits typical Morrissey themes of economic inequality and government suppression.

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Music Park: Hot Chip @ Echostage — 6/5/15

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Hot Chip (Photo courtesy Press Here)

Hot Chip kept a very full room “ready for the floor” as they danced the night away at Echostage Friday night.

Touring in support of their sixth album, Why Make Sense?, released in May 2015, the London quintet also paid respects to their career so far, hitting highlights from their previous albums.

In doing so, Hot Chip sang a lot about being in love while adding soulful samba-like grooves to some of their greatest hits.

And so the crowd boogied down in earnest to tracks like “Night & Day,” “Over and Over” and “I Feel Better” throughout the show, as well as many of the noteworthy tunes on the new album.

The U.K. synthpoppers opened with “Huarache Lights,” a dance-funk ode to living on the go until eventually replaced by automation, the first single from their latest effort. They also showcased “Easy to Get” and “Started Right” from Why Make Sense? — the first a playful tribute to playing “easy to get” with someone you love and the second also a lovely song about being in love and in a committed relationship.

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Don’t Miss: Hot Chip @ Echostage, 6/5/15

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London quintet Hot Chip (Photo by Steve Gullick)

Last month, nu disco juggernauts Hot Chip released their sixth studio album, Why Make Sense?

After five good albums (several of which are outstanding), you might ask, “Where can Hot Chip go from here?” And Hot Chip apparently asked themselves that same question in the making of this album.

Part of the process of finding an answer for the band was to write and record “Huarache Lights,” a musical statement on what the band brings to the table. It’s a classic single for Hot Chip, pairing vocalist Alexis Taylor’s unique voice with pulsating rhythms and thematically addressing people and technology — but most importantly, doing so while being funky.

Watch the video for “Huarache Lights”:

In May, Hot Chip launched a world tour in support of the new album, and they bring the show to Echostage in DC this Friday, June 5.

I’ve been fortunate enough to catch Hot Chip several times in the past, and their live show is itself a regular dance party. They have a sound, and surely an accompanying light show, capable of filling the large space of Echostage quite well.

And I daresay that the sound and vision of the live performance tells the other half of the story when asking where do Hot Chip go from here? So it’s well worth your time to get out there, check them out and dance your heart out.

Watch a full Hot Chip set from the 2014 Pitchfork Music Festival in Paris:

Sudanese-American Ahmed Gallab brings his soul quartet Sinkane along to open for Hot Chip. Tickets are available online or at the box office at the 9:30 Club.

Hot Chip
w/ Sinkane
Echostage
Friday, June 5
Doors @7pm
$45
All ages