Live Review: Hot Chip @ Oxegen 2010

When & Where: Heineken Green Spheres on Saturday 10th July @ 22:00.

Another act I was eager to see following the release of a great album earlier this year. Hot Chip are festival favourites of many but, as was evident at Glastonbury, as they are around so often they can be regularly pushed into worse time slots, venues and sometimes practically ignored by the crowds. Luckily, there was no fear of that here - the Green Spheres tent was the perfect location for the dance pop sounds of the London quintet. And I clearly wasn't the only who thought this as the entire tent was packed from top to bottom by an enthusiastic crowd who didn't miss so much as a beat from start to finish.

Much of the set was dominated by the band's bigger hits, rather than the new album. A handful of tracks from One Life Stand were included, but two of these were singles (One Life Stand, I Feel Better) and the other two are already live show regulars (Take It In, We Have Love) There was, unfortunately, no room for the likes of Thieves in the Night, while Slush and Brothers were obviously left out due to the brevity of the set. The band opted to keep it upbeat, rather than slow things down.

All of the band's other major singles were included: Over and Over, Boy From School, Shake A Fist, One Pure Thought, Ready For the Floor. Each greeted with different levels of excitement and reaction, but all equally enjoyable. The show closed with Ready for the Floor - a longer, heavier and more dance version of the track that has become all so familiar in the two years it has been out. The highlight for me was One Pure Thought, while the crowd went nuts for Over and Over.

The band sounded fantastic and enjoyed a bit of banter with the crowd too, their parting words taking the form of "You've been great! You don't smell very nice, but neither do we!" Typical of the light-hearted nature of everything these guys do. They have an inexplicable effortless cool surrounding them and this seeped into the crowd. Thoroughly enjoyable, a nice contrast to some of the acts who take themselves a little too seriously. Judging by this, Hot Chip are a band I could see myself going to see over and over and over and over....