It's impossible to top Matt & Kim's zany live show in Vancouver

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Video: Matt & Kim bring a Monday night dance party to Vancouver

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If there were ever a time when it would be handy to have the functions of TiVo for real life, Monday night at the Rickshaw Theatre was it. Had there been a way to skip past the first band like an overplayed Boston Pizza commercial, fans would surely have gone right to the good stuff: the Brooklyn-based dance-pop dream team of Matt & Kim.

In a clever marketing move, the evening kicked off with a listening party for the headlining duo’s upcoming record, Sidewalks. And while the experience could have been kicked up a notch (or three) with trippy visuals, Pabst Blue Ribbon drinking games, or other eye candy, it raised a valid question: Why not just have Matt & Kim open up for themselves? Because going from the new CD to the band in the actual flesh would have packed a greater punch.

Tag-along tour mates from New York the So So Glos were a touch more interesting than, well, staring at an empty stage, but most of the cheers that the punky quartet received were the result of spill-over enthusiasm for the act on the Rickshaw marquee.

Ever since singer-keyboardist Matt Johnson and drummer Kim Schifino burst onto the scene with their self-titled debut in 2006, the too-cute-for-words twosome—who also happen to be boyfriend and girlfriend—have made it near-impossible for others to top their zany live show and stupidly infectious Nintendo-esque electro-pop. Their performance in Vancouver was an excellent reminder of this.

Backed by a gigantic geometric archway that appeared to be constructed from a Goliath-sized Rubik’s Cube, Matt & Kim looked like contestants on some futuristic Japanese game show. As for their stage banter, it would have made even the most hardened tugboat captain blush; F-bombs dropped from their lips at a rate that made you wonder if the person with the lowest profanity count for the gig had to foot the bill for breakfast the next day.

While ripping through deliriously fun songs like “Good Ol’ Fashion Nightmare”, “It’s a Fact (Printed Stained)”, and the crowd-pleaser “Lessons Learned” (you know, the “Da da da-da-da-da da da da” track), Schifino flailed behind the kit like everyone’s favourite chemically imbalanced Muppet. Johnson, meanwhile, put “The Situation” and the rest of the lushes on Jersey Shore to shame with his exuberant fist pumping.

The connection between Johnson and Schifino was simply electric. Between their megawatt smiles, adorable giggling, and effortless charisma, the couple, both outfitted in head-to-toe black, offered the all-ages audience a good idea how a six-year-old must feel at a Yo Gabba Gabba! Live! show.

Yes, Matt & Kim were that awesome—to the point where, as soon as the show was over, you wanted to live it all over again. TiVo, where are you when we need you most?