Matt & Kim Shaking the Floorboards

Fact: Matt and Kim will always be hipster-skinny because of the amount of energy they expend on stage.

Fact #2: They're adorable for how much they love what they do and how grateful they are for their fans.

A friend had invited me to join him on the guest list for tonight's show at the Canal Club and who am I to turn down a free show?

Our dilemma was where to park once and party twice and eventually we settled on Cafe Gutenberg due to proximity.

I was (lecture) late and he was (got off work) early, so I arrived to find him perusing Style and drinking a beer.

I was starving, so I went with the Banh Mi (braised pork, cucumbers, carrots, mint, mayo and chili-ginger madness), which was exactly what he'd already decided on.

Our sandwiches arrived in no time and we were tearing into them when our server came over and told us that the kitchen thought that our fries had been oversalted, so they were sending out more.

My friend had the very stereotypical male reaction, along the lines of oversalted? Really? Oh, boy, more fries!

And they do have excellent fries, which I know from having enjoyed them as a salty snack when meeting my friend Scott there for drinks.

Our goal was to be at the Canal Club by 7 because they were going to play the new Matt & Kim album before the opening act.

After waiting in line to get in, we waited some more before the album was started.

As we stood there, the crowd got denser by the minute.

The opening act caused my friend to say to me, "I can't wait to see your blog tomorrow about these guys."

Yes, well. It's not that I dislike hiphop because I was at a hiphop show just this past Saturday night (Photosynthesizers were amazing).

Let's just say this wasn't to my taste...or that of a third of the crowd, all of whom went downstairs for the set.

But then punk/dance duo and partners Matt and Kim came out and all was right with the world.

I had mentioned to my friend that they hadn't played here since that show at the bike lot during Slaughterama, what three years ago?

I'd had tickets to their show a while back and it had been cancelled when Matt threw his back out.

They were overdue in RVA.

And they began by acknowledging just that.

Matt said their last two shows here had been the bike show and a house show at someplace called the Bone Zone, where he recalled shots being poured down his throat as he played.

He remembered Richmond as a town that "loves to get wild" and tonight's very young crowd (most had an underage X on their hand) cheered him wildly for it.

Kim said that she remembered that even on a Monday night, people here were ready to party.

Drums and keyboards and lots of enthusiasm make up a Matt & Kim show.

Kim stood on her drums to announce that she had cousins in the audience, so "there better be crowd surfing before the night's over!"

She need not have worried about that, although more than a few people got dropped.

Kim herself stood on people's hands to do a booty dance, her drum-sculpted arms waving in the air.

Matt played keys with one leg up in the air behind his back.

The floor shook like I've never felt it shake at the Canal Club and I've been to a lot of shows there.

Matt called it a "Thursday night Richmond, Virginia dance party" and he wasn't far off.

There was even some pogoing going on, not that anyone who was doing it had any idea what pogoing was.

Introducing their last song, Daylight, Matt said, "If you've had a bad night, or a bad week, or even a bad year, use the next three and a half minutes to shake it out of your fingertips...or your ass and just feel better."

Final fact: Amidst the pounding rhythms and overall enthusiasm of their signature song, every single one of us did.