C-mon & Kypski
Geldmuseum, U-town
7 July 2007
After having missed out on their triumphant homecoming show at Tivoli in May for reasons beyond my control (well, K-os was in Amsterdam, and he only comes over once in a lifetime) there was no way I was going to miss out on seeing these Utrecht legends again, especially as they were playing a genuinely unique gig at the old Dutch mint – the Geldmuseum. It was slightly surreal to be in a museum at all, let alone late at night, but aside from a strict admonishment and threat of ejection for drinking in the foyer, everything went swimmingly.
The set-up was unusual as the venue, with the band split up across the room and the crowd in the middle. This meant that the first song, Where the Wild Things Are, slightly misfired as a result of the band and the audience getting used to it all. The more upbeat Chemical got things off to a proper start and after that there was no looking back as the band relaxed and everyone started to enjoy themselves.
The staging of the gig did mean that you got a lot closer than normal to the action, so you could marvel at how Kypski manages to seamlessly switch between drumming and scratching at the drop of a (hi) hat. It’s this willingness to change things around, whether it be vocals, instruments or song arrangements, that makes C&K such an exciting and strong proposition live. Their records reflect this eclectic approach, but live, they take it to another level and then some. By the time they dropped Bumpy Road they had everyone singing along, and the goodwill spilled over until they closed with the triumphant Circus. You can take it from me, it’s a lot easier to go ‘pa, pa, pa’ then rap in Russian.
It’s easily the most fun I’ve ever had in a museum.