Matt And Kim--Logan Square Auditorium, Chicago, Illinois

We returned to Hickory High this past Tuesday to check out Matt and Kim with Totally Michael and Dan Deacon opening. First thing I noticed was that the price of PBR had gone up $1. Oh, the humanity. If you aren't familiar with Totally Michael (because I wasn't) he's a single performer, rather nerdy, presumably named Michael, and he took the stage with an iPod and seldom used guitar. Don't let that fool you because he was exciting. In fact he got the crowd going into a bit of a frenzy and a mosh pit formed around the stage. I'm not sure if mosh pit is the right word. I never know what to call it when a bunch of hipsters that weigh 135 lbs. are jumping around to some nerdy music. How about we just call it a hipstosh pit. So I went to join the hipstosh pit because it looked like fun, danced around for awhile, and returned to my crew. It was a great time until I reached into my pocket and realized my phone was gone. Noooooooooo! Panic mode set in. We looked all over for it with no success. Depressed, resigned to the fact that I was going to have to buy a new phone, the concert was ruined before it had really began. I saw a security guard and told him my story. Believe it or not he actually seemed concerned. And after Totally Michael finished he got on stage, told the crowd that a phone had been lost, and the guy who found it returned it to me almost instantaneously. I was so happy I'll never make fun of hipsters again. (Also, sometime during Totally Michael's set he divided the crowd into two sides and included the crowd into some sort of role play. I'd be able to explain it better but I was too busy sulking in the corner because I thought my phone was lost. That said, Totally Michael was good).

Something tells me Totally Michael totally didn't have many girlfriends in high school.

I meant to see Baltimorian Dan Deacon put on his electronic show at the Pitchfork Festival this past summer but because of circumstances beyond my control I missed him. Those of you that read the Pitchfork article may remember. So needless to say, I was pretty excited after having been cheated this summer. He was incredible and I couldn't even see him. He sets up his electronics on the ground and invites the audience to crowd around him and even watch from

the stage.

You can't see him but I believe Dan Deacon was sitting just below that nice floating green skull.

Coupled with the lighting, his music sounds really cryptic. People were dancing, hipstoshing, and Deacon had the crowd running around the room on his instructions. It was a pretty wild scene, like gym class at some terrible new-age middle school.

Half of these people are running around on Dan Deacon's instruction and the other half are rioting because Logan Square Auditorium raised the price of PBR to $4.

To understand how crazy the scene was during Dan Deacon, look no further than the upside down boot.

After Dan Deacon finished I finally caught a glimpse of him. He's the guy in the yellow shirt. And yes ladies, he's single.

I ran to the bathroom after Dan Deacon finished and came back into the room and was met with what I think was the smell of death. If you look at the picture of Dan Deacon above, that's about what everyone else looked like after he finished. Everyone was into it.......and in turn, everyone smelled horrible.

This marked my second time seeing the alternative punk/dance duo Matt and Kim. I saw them in early August at the Sonic Muse Festival in Cincinnati. The onstage pizza party was a gas in Cincy so I was even more exited this time around knowing what to expect. They had spent the past three days driving from San Diego so they could play this show and they took the stage and were ready to go. Opening up with "Silver Tiles" the crowd was so excited and caught up in the hipstoshing that the crowd began to sway back and forth beyond control. People were running onstage and stage-diving, and Matt and Kim's entourage were behind the band partying and dancing it up. One guy had a skull shaped beer bong. Skulls played a prominent role at this concert.

Matt and Kim in a good mood for once.

Although hailing from Brooklyn, Matt and Kim really love Chicago. I know this because he told us so. Seriously though, they really do love Chicago and Chicago really digs them. The energy from the crowd was as infectious as Kim's smile. When they played "Yea Yeah" the crowd got rowdy to the point that the girls I was with had to retreat from the front of the stage.

I'm not sure what the guys over Matt's left shoulder are doing but it's looking kind of weird.

Yep, still looking weird.

Matt and Kim ended their set with an absolute party on stage. I'm not sure how many people were around the band as they closed out but they barely had room to play their instruments. One guy was crowding Kim so much her big smile turned into just a smile with a look of suspicion in her eyes at the guy falling all over her drum set. I really don't think they cared. They're all about a good time and it was a good time.

Party on stage. I guarantee they had to spray that room down once everyone left. The girl in the black shirt on the far right pretty much sums up the evening.

In perfect Matt and Kim fashion there was an impromptu dance party after the concert was over. In case you weren't aware, "Since U Been Gone" can really get a room going. If you missed the hoopla, not to worry, I'm sure all three of these acts will be back soon. More importantly, this show spawned a new word--hipstoshing (well, maybe two if you count "Baltimorian"), we saw the gentrification of PBR, and I learned never to give up looking for a cell phone. All in all, a rather educational night at old Hickory High..