First off, the place was packed, and that was even outside the entry to the venue. the t-shirt stand was being heckled by everyone in sight, and was having troubles with cash registers, which did not help their situation one bit. In the middle of picking up my usual commemorative t-shirt (and this time totally awesome 7" vinyl single) an alarm starts to go off. Myself and my friends are really not sure what it is, and ignore it, thinking maybe it means to get to your seats. We head up to the balcony, and I choose to go to the basement, for a quick break in the bathroom. Turns out I am next to the nurse station, being yelled at to "GET OUT NOW!" Being the hypochondria and anxiety riddled guy that I am, I freaked the hell out, but only on the inside. Once outside everybody is asking themselves what the hell is going on? Now there is an alarm outside emitting an annoying buzzing sound, not pleasant. they turn the alarm off, we all think someone must have pulled it, then it goes off again! this continues to happen at least 15 times with the alarm outside. until we all say whatever, get back inside, and find out the whole alarm system was just freaking out. What does this have to do with the overall concert? Nothing, but it's the reaction later that helps make it so special.
So, I find my seat, after tripping on the oddly configured stairs in the balcony, while in pitch black, trying to find my friends. An announcer (Bret from FOTC) announces that this show is brought to you by the Minneapolis Fire Department (thank you fire alarms!) And before the comedy duo hits the stage, comedian Eugene Mirman comes on. I only knew him as a very small role on the Flight of the Conchords HBO show, but turns out this guy is a real deal comedian, very funny, and well worth checking out (especially when it involves Delta Airlines!)
After only around 20-25 minutes of standup, Eugene introduces Flight of the Conchords, the now giants of comedy folk rock from New Zealand. They open with a hit from their newest season on HBO, "Too Many Dicks on the Dancefloor". Needless to say it is 10 times funnier with the guys dancing in robot costumes. After that short techno diatribe, they sit down to their normal acoustic guitars, and begin the real intimate type show. It is here, that FOTC really know how to make a show special. They actually TALK to the audience. Interact, make fun of people, and just be all around funny guys. What I loved most, was that the fire alarm incident was brought up so often, that it was a real connecting point between the band and the audience. This is one of the things that most bands don't understand, you really need to connect with your audience for them to be comfortable around you. (Even during the encore break, instead of yelling CONCHORDS! everyone was simply mimicking the fire alarm, which was really unique and fun.)
Well, over the course of around and hour and a half the band pulled out some extremely funny music and standup, including "hits" such as Albi the Racist Dragon, I'm not Crying, Hurt Feelings, Demon Woman, Suga Lumps, and even in the middle of the show brought out the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra (a guy named Virgil with a cello.) After 90 minutes of that, and heckling various audience members (even telling everyone to cal some guy madame after the show, and for the rest of his life, also his children as well) they Conchords left the stage. It could have been a little bit longer, though that was the only complaint anyone could have come up with about this show. Overall it was an extremely unique and fun show, something that is hard to do with just guitars and pianos, you can find me at any more Conchords shows that come through Minneapolis/St. Paul in the future.
No comments:
Post a Comment