ACL Fest: Hot Chip Make Zilker A Huge Dance Party

As the sun began to head west and the evening rolled in, London's Hot Chip played their endearing brand of creative and awkward dance-rock to a truly massive crowd on the AT&T Blue Room stage. The band focused heavily on material from this year's release Made In The Dark, which traded in the beat-heavy laptop pop of 2006 LP The Warning for a full band sound. The songs generally played better live than on record, and the group turned up the keyboards and drums to maximize their sonic power. Co-founder and second vocalist Joe Goddard kept the crowd happy with banter and a surprise announcement about DJing a house party later in the evening, while lead vocalist Alexis Taylor kept quiet but delivered a pleasing and energetic set. The band also rewarded longtime fans with older tracks like "Down With Prince," "Boy From School," and a cover of Prince's "Nothing Compares To U." The fact that a band as eclectic as Hot Chip can now play a late afternoon slot at a mainstream festival is surprising enough...but what impressed us most was how surely they belonged there. This was a day one highlight, and the crowd danced with abandon and walked away happy. -- Tom Thornton