Representing Brooklyn in Buffalo
Plaid flannel shirts, tight jeans and karabiners were wrapped around the corner of the Dunn Building, all anticipating cramming into one of the city’s smallest venues Friday night to see the up-and-coming sensation known as Matt and Kim.
Ninjasonik, a rap duo that has known Matt and Kim since their days back in Brooklyn, kicked off the evening. Accompanied by their DJ, a Buffalo native, the group warmed up not only the crowd but also the headline act, as Matt and Kim stood off to the side of the stage and enjoyed the show.
Before turning over the show, Ninjasonik ended on a high note by performing a remix of one of Matt and Kim’s biggest hits, “Daylight.”
After a quick gear setup, the house music was cut and Matt and Kim came to the stage with explosive energy and performed a remix of B.I.G.’s “Where Brooklyn At” with Fat Joe’s “Lean Back” playing over the thunderous applause.
There were some technical difficulties soon into the band’s set, but it was not a problem as it gave Matt the opportunity to jokingly sing R. Kelly’s “Remix To Ignition” with the crowd.
The show was a family affair for Kim – she brought her aunt out from the crowd and up to the stage after the second song. Sitting behind the group was probably best for auntie – the seat looked comfortable and the crowd got rather rowdy during the show.
Matt encouraged the rowdiness before the song “I Wanna.”
“I know that when you try to push through the crowd to get to the front everyone looks at you like you’re an a*****e,” Matt said. “But for this song I am giving everyone permission to be an a*****e and push to the front.”
Soon, the show erupted again when the group played one of their most well known songs off the new album, “Good Ol’ Fashioned Nightmare.” To make one of their best songs even better, the band changed it up by playing a solo to the melody to the Sugar Hill Gang song “Apache” in the middle of it.
They stood on their stools and sang the chorus of the song, filling the room with their energy and pulling it right back in when they found the crowd singing it right back.
Matt told the audience different facts about the songs they played throughout the show and even informed the audience that “Silver Tiles” was the first song they ever wrote.
Right after, Kim had a moment to show everyone what she brought to the party and rocked out the drums a la carte.
Later, the male half of the group spoke about how the duo loves Buffalo and that they were happy to be back. They stopped by after a trip to Canada.
“This [song] is about something Canada doesn’t care about; it’s baseball,” Matt said, before playing “Lightspeed. “Well, they do have the Blue Jays so they have that going for them.”
At the end of the song, the group started playing Gary Glitter’s “Rock and Roll Part Two (The Hey Song)” and Matt gave out high-fives to the fans.
Matt had a few things to say before going into the duo’s hit single, “Lessons Learned.”
“This is the first time we played this [song] in Buffalo, the first time Kim will sing in Buffalo and the reason we won a VMA for the first time, and the first time I took my pants off in public in February,” Matt said.
The crowd erupted and kept the excitement going through the song.
The energy stayed high into the next song as Matt played the intro to Guns ’N’ Roses’ “Sweet Child O’ Mine” while Kim crowd surfed.
The band had another small technical difficulty during the next song when Matt’s keyboard became unplugged during “Jesse Jane.” It didn’t faze the band and Matt asked the crowd if they had seen District 9 or Inglourious Basterds.
“I had never seen someone get scalped before, that s*** f****d me up a bit,” Matt said, in reference to Tarantino’s latest masterpiece.
The band went right back into the song afterwards and joked about the mishap when the song was over, offering some advice.
“If a keyboard comes unplugged, plug that s*** back in and keep going,” Matt said.
The group played an emotional performance of the song “Turn This Boat Around.” They then played a song they said they had written three years ago, “Yea Yeah,” but the crowd loved it so much, it might as well have it on the radio today. One of the members of Ninjasonik even began dancing on the bar.
For their final tidbit of a cover, the band had the audience on their tiptoes with their hands in the air, which is how one should be when the intro to Europe’s “Final Countdown” is being played.
Before playing the last song, Matt thanked Ninjasonik and the crowd one more time.
“It’s because of you that I get to be here. This is the most important song I’ve ever written and it’s for you guys,” Matt said, before going into the best song to end the night, “Daylight.”
The show ended with the crowd screaming for more, but the fun didn’t continue. Matt stuck around to sign autographs and hug fans. He took the time to ask each person their name, give them an autograph or two and offer sincere thanks.
The show proved not just how great Matt and Kim are at performing live, but also how much they love their fans.
E-mail: arts@ubspectrum.com