CSS and The Go! Team Live at the Trocadero (8/7)
This was my first time seeing The Go! Team so I wasn’t sure what to expect when I arrived at the show. Coming from work, I was tired and thirsty and the loud poppy dance music felt like an assault to my senses as I walked in. But as my eyes and ears adjusted to the venue, I noticed that the crowd around me was jumping and flailing their arms in complete unselfconscious joy.
It wasn’t too long before I started to feel more energetic. Some of the songs have a triumphant feel, almost reminiscent of a poppy, electrified version of the Rocky theme song. The guy next to me jumping up and down with his fists in the air looked like he could be part of the Balboa clan—and I’m not just saying that because the concert took place at the Trocadero in Philadelphia (still home to the famous Rocky statue.)
Ninja, The Go! Team’s vocalist, was charming, outgoing and captivated the audience from the start, but the rest of the band held their own too. The guitarists were doing crazy jumps and air poses throughout the show and they stole the stage during an impressive instrumentalist segment where the vocalist receded into the background.
Judging by the singer’s short shorts, knee socks and giddy stage presence, I expected her voice to be high-pitched and girly. Instead, it was fairly deep and complex, which was a nice surprise. My only complaint was that the Troc should have cranked up the vocals louder so they didn’t compete with the rest of the music as much.
Like the singer’s voice, the music is much more complex than the songs suggest on the surface (and from what I have heard from the records.) With lyrics like, “Do it, do it, alright!” anyone can sing along—and most of the audience did. But the music isn’t nearly as simple. Drums, guitars, a tambourine, keyboard, bells and a harmonica all combine to create dance music with an advanced degree.
This is a show where you can jump around like a maniac and have plenty of company (“Are you ready for more?” was a good example of a song that really got the crowd pounding the floor), but you can also sit, sway and appreciate the melodies if you’re not spastically hopping on the feet of everyone around you.
In contrast to the end of The Go! Team’s set, Cansei de Ser Sexy’s (CSS’) first song almost seemed laid back, but the audience was so pumped up to see them that no one really noticed the lowered intensity. By the second song, “Paris Hilton,” the band’s energy started matching that of the audience.
CSS’ singer Lovefoxxx was wearing her signature unitard and a multicolored boa. While her outfit was kooky enough to make me smile, nothing can top the unitard made entirely of sequins that I saw her wear at Virgin Festival last summer in 95+ degree heat, while hip-thrusting people dressed as bushes (of the plant variety) who were shaking what their trees gave ‘em up on the stage.
Favorites like “Off the Hook” and “Music Is My Hot Hot Sex” were right on. The guitar’s harmonics interwoven through the vocals added to the simplistic but fun lyrics. Band members also showed off their skills by switching instruments fairly often, moving from the guitar to the cowbell (and not a cowbell attached to a drum kit, but a lone cowbell left to slam at just the appropriate points) to, 
our personal favorite, the keytar.
Yes, that’s right, I said keytar! The guitarist, who pulled it out, slung it over her shoulder, let it hang super low, all the way down to her knees, and just might have made a keytar look cooler than it ever has before. The keytar wasn’t the only nod to the past. Lovefoxxx busted out some old school dance moves including the now rarely-seen running man. While The Go! Team taught the audience the lyrics to a hook, CSS taught them old-school dance moves and the audience ate it up.
The last song was “Alala” and the band made the most of it. Lovefoxxx threw off her boa and the normally laidback guitarists broke out some moves of their own. There was no encore, but the audience didn’t seem too disappointed (or as if they were expecting one). After hours of dancing, jumping and singing along, the crowd was tired and thirsty—much like how I felt when I showed up at the concert—except a few hours had added an air of happiness (not to mention an area of sweatiness). The audience was noticeably exhausted, yet the overall vibe remained amped—no less than I expected from a CSS show.
The Go! Team does not play music that I would typically listen to or enjoy, but their live shows are so fantastic that I make sure to catch them every time they are in town. I saw this show about a month ago in Minneapolis, and it was one not to be missed. Great review overall.