The lights came back on after the Frights opening act, and stage hands rolled out an elevated surface platform as the room filled with fans. As they removed covers and strung wires across the stage, the DJ stage transformed into a platform including a keyboard and modified drums setup. The back of the keyboard spelled out in bold, white letters “MATT AND KIM.”
The Matt and Kim "Grand" 10 Year Anniversary Tour concert at The Senate on Nov. 17 contained all aspects that define the wildly energetic performances of the group.
The energy was already high from the opening act, the Frights, with people booing at the rejected encore. After minutes of anticipatory club music blasting, the lights dimmed and a variety of lights swirled and flew across the stage as Matt and Kim burst onto the scene, inciting a roar of clapping and screaming.
Soon after, lead singer Matt Johnson launched into “Daylight,” and the audience sang and danced around as they played one of their biggest hits. The hyper crowd quieted as he made his first announcement saying he was doing “just a bit of housekeeping,” as he encouraged the crowd to be as wild as possible. He engaged in their mosh pits throughout the show, as drummer Kim Schifino threw in jokes and more raunchy encouragement.
“You wanna know what a Matt and Kim concert is?” she asked and promptly explained its energetic mosh pits, dancing, getting on peoples shoulders and crowd surfing.
Their animated set list of hits included, "Good Ol' Fashion Nightmare," "GO GO," "Money," "Happy If You’re Happy" and "Get It," while balloons and giant, naked inflatable dolls constantly popped around the audience and a giant projector showed a view of the raving audience while displaying karaoke style song lyrics.
With Johnson dressed in a red tank top, bandana and zebra print converse and Schifino in colorful jeans and a leg brace, their set flowed from crowd interaction to spirited performances. They stopped every few songs to throw out shirts into the audience. They also told stories about this being the first time they played the last song on the Grand album and about the backstage score-board keeping track of f-bombs dropped on stage.
From the other performance pauses of dancing to hits like, "Just Friends," songs by Lizzo or a mash-up of "I Love It" and "I Want It That Way" to explaining the wall of death mosh pit strategy, their extreme energy and unrestrained performance built the typical Matt and Kim atmosphere.
Matt and Kim finally walked off-stage after an encore. Two fans of Matt and Kim, Daniel Luetkemeyer and Bri Thompson, both agreed on their love for the duo. Luetkemeyer said they had seen Matt and Kim perform in Columbia, Missouri.
“I've loved Matt and Kim ever since. I’ve followed them since this album came out," Luetkemeyer said. "They’re amazing.”
Thompson described the duo's performance as a religious experience.
"I think that we don’t get enough opportunities to let out like cathartic, just like dancing and being crazy and super accepting in everyday life and so they facilitate that experience there for everybody,” Thompson said.