“I dare you not to dance! I dare you not to dance!” Haiku Hands has a next-level understanding of how to get a crowd to start moving, and that sometimes means using reverse psychology. The Aussie power-dance quartet asked the crowd to lose control while they danced, and a large Stubbs crowd was willing to oblige since most of them were their to shake their ‘rumbas’ to Sofi Tukker anyway. Haiku Hands served as a perfect opener to Sofi Tukker, stirring up the crowd’s willingness to dance on a chilly October Austin night.
Sofi Tukker exploded onto the stage with sexual physicality that was emphasized by pulsating rhythms and primitive percussion. If it was Sofi Tukker’s intention to coax the animalistic tendencies out of the crowd, they succeeded all too well. The throng of dancers in the crowd had created an amorphous vibrating organism of bliss. Songs like “Fuck They” and “Mi Rumba” continued to level-up the energy with each consecutive track.
The beauty of a Sofi Tukker set is their song quality is strong enough to sprinkle in hits at the outset but still have enough to backload the end of the set and encore. “Swing”, “Best Friend”, “Batshit” and “Purple Hat” all rapid-fired with out regard to the physical limitations of endurance for those who were dancing. The set would end with the duo’s most romanticized track “Fantasy” which allayed the crowd with beautiful deep house odyssey. A one-song encore would ensue in which they would play “Drinkee” and send the sweaty crowd smiling into the Austin night.