Concert Review: Chk Chk Chk Go BRING THE BOOM At Elsewhere

Okay! I am about to be inadvertently arrogant. I’ve reviewed a lot of shows, which is why when someone asks me, “Hey! What was your fave show?” At best, I my mind enters a cloud of warping sounds and images of what was. Chk Chk Chk was one of the best shows I had ever seen in my life, and going to see them at Elsewhere, again, was like remembering a fond memory. 

Chk Chk Chk is one of those shows where if you don’t dance, you look weird. Something I have marveled as I enter the concert circuit. In Puerto Rico, everyone breaks out into Salsa steps, Reggaeton twerks, or Bachata swoons, but, in New York, unless you are going to a certain club, people just stay in place and sway. Yet, frontman Nic Offer and frontwoman Sonia Moore  would not allow such a thing, and Elsewhere became a factory of sweat and hip-swishes. Even the girl next to me tore her flats boogieing to what felt like music de “despojo:” a Taino term meaning spiritual cleanse. For the people in the packed shows, Chk Chk Chk had offered a physical relief as much as a sonic one. 

Let’s be real…. I still get nervous about Covid. Sometimes, I have to tell myself… it’s okay…. you’re safe…. New Yorkers are vaccinated. It’s strange to go to concerts, now, because…. people actually leave space for each other, and are pretty good about not pressing against another. Yet, that means you are not going to see a big move busted, but Chk Chk Chk is THE MOVE. PEOPLE DANCED as if they had to get rid of something; as if the last two years left them mentally breathless moreso than literally. After all, we were physically confined, which makes the raucous “Man On The Moon” and and the fun “Couldn’t Have Known” feel like chain-breakers. People needed to physically let loose, and, in a rare gem, Chk Chk Chk’s show allowed them. With more nw music to premiere, their upcoming shows are going to feel like welcomed relief for people ready to go out, but needing to relearn what it is to “show-out.”