The concert series that 96.5 The Buzz puts on every winter, The Night The Buzz Stole Christmas, is always a highly anticipated event of the season. The three-night show is held at The Midland Theater downtown, and this year the main focus was put on Florence and the Machine who were headlining night one. Florence’s show was sold out fast and became one of the hottest tickets of the year.
Night one clearly did not upstage the rest of the event though because on Wednesday, December 7, night three of the series, The Midland was a packed house. It also helped that the show was absolutely free of charge due to Flogging Molly canceling at the last minute.
The main acts were instead, Antennas Up, Company of Thieves, and the new main act, Matt & Kim.
Antennas Up hit the stage with a lot of enthusiasm and energy. They are a local band, using a blend of classic rock and funk with a slight electronic edge. While the crowd did not really give much of a reaction to the band, they must be applauded for the lead singer’s stage presence and ambition to hit the highest notes, even despite his voice getting a little weary towards the end of their set.
Company of Thieves quickly hit the stage next. With the singer’s bubbly personality and wailing vocals, her stage persona even surpassed that of Antennas Up and gave a strong showcase of the bands talents. While all of their songs started to sound a bit similar, the band had their best moments with songs like “Oscar Wilde,” a fun and melodic single from their debut album.
All of this was just build up though for Matt & Kim, the real stars of the show. The quirky duo possibly have the most upbeat personalities seen on a stage before. They ran out on stage and jumped right into songs like “Block After Block” and “Lessons Learned,” the latter of which they had the crowd sing the background on.
Just watching the two of them perform would put anyone in a good mood from Matt’s jumpy keyboard playing and Kim’s wild drumming, both with huge smiles on their faces showing true love and enthusiasm for what they do. Every now and then they would even pause between songs and just dance on stage (and standing atop the crowds hands) to Major Lazer’s Pon De Floor.
The entire night had a fun atmosphere with almost no time for slow songs except Matt & Kim’s slightly more down-tempo highlight on “Northeast.” The show was a no-rules dance party and each of the three bands just tried to just get the crowd let loose and have fun. Matt & Kim clearly stole the show though and put on a performance that no one could ask more of considering that it did not cost a dime.