Matt & Kim

Tonight’s show at The Zoo would be one of duos, with no less than three of them performing for the listening and viewing pleasure of Brisbane’s music-loving public. Call it a Groovin’ The Moo sideshow or whatever you like; one thing that can be guaranteed when seeing Matt & Kim is rock-solid, class A entertainment; and tonight would be no different.

First up is well-known Brisbane duo Tiger Beams, consisting of local soul brother Jeremy Neale on guitar/vocals and his Velociraptor partner-in-crime Jesse Hawkins on vocals/drums, seemingly taking part in a how-many-bands-can-you-be-in-at-once competition (and undoubtedly winning). Their set is messy and charming in equal amounts, and culminates with Hawkins announcing “we’ve never played this last song live before and we’re quite drunk – a good combination,” before taking to the stage front and centre for a ridiculous (and in many ways, brilliant) electronic number featuring robot dancing and intergalactic synth loops.

Citizen Kay

Next up is Citizen Kay from Canberra; a young artist whose music has been described as hip-hop, but in reality consists of so much more. The singer runs through a highly energetic set of fantastic rap/dance/pop tunes with a socially-conscious heart, including the excellent ‘When I Was Up’ and ‘Free Doom’ (or was that ‘Freedom’?), including lines about Malcolm X and JFK: nice. ‘Villain’ is a groovy rap track that allows the drummer to flaunt his considerable skills, but it’s Kay’s stage presence, charisma, and endless grin that holds the audience in the palm of his hand for the length of the set. Well played, young sir.

And so, it’s time for Matt & Kim, who bounce onto the stage in a a flurry of flashing lights, bubbles, and screams, have a quick dance on the bass drum and various parts of the stage, then exclaim “we’ve been hanging out over by the Kangaroo Point cliffs, and we’ve learned that there are no rules in Brisbane; you can do whatever the fuck you want!” Cue colossal screams and the audience is theirs. The punchy ‘Overexposed’ follows before Matt introduces Kim as “my partner-in-crime and my partner in sex,” with Kim responding with “You are gonna fuck tonight Matt – our foreplay is me telling you I’m gonna fuck the shit out of you tonight!” as the audience eats up every word.

‘Silver Tiles’ is next, and is introduced as “pretty much the first song we ever wrote”, followed by ‘Good Ol’ Fashioned Nightmare’ as the crowd bounces in unison, before the slower ‘Turn This Boat Around’ follows Kim standing on the drums slapping her ass in the general direction of the audience.

At this point handfuls of balloons and cock rings are flung into the audience to add to the manic party vibe, before ‘Now’ and a cover of ’90s Dutch Euro-pop anthem ‘Better Off Alone’ by Alice Deejay sees an outbreak of bare-breasted crowd-surfing by one girl and a lightning-quick grab for iPhone cameras by the entire rest of the audience (I was too slow, damn it). Matt confesses to having “missed a couple of notes when that bra came off”, before Kim delights us by confessing “every night I juice myself up here playing the drums.”

By now everybody is exhausted but exhilarated, so an encore of ‘Lessons Learned’ fits perfectly, with Kim suggesting “If you sing along with me on this song, you will get laid tonight.” While the truth to this claim can’t possibly be confirmed, one thing is certain: Matt & Kim are one of the best live acts around right now, and every member of the audience left The Zoo feeling better than when they arrived.