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It seemed a bit hectic and disorganized trying to get in as I was waiting for them to sell extra tickets at the door, but I agree that organization should always take a backseat to creativity any day. Especially if the musicians pull up with nonchalant conviction in a veggie oil powered ragtag school bus, or C OOL BUS as the letters “S” and “H” were conveniently removed from the sign above the windshield.

The show took place in an artsy gallery basement (/sauna as short time elapsed) It was a great location to have held this kind of music in, it came across like a secret concert performed hidden out on the fringes of society/reality.

I found myself in the basement wandering about, taking in the quirky atmosphere of the place to prep myself for the rest of the night. This included grabbing a few of the low quality cans of warmish beer sold from a doorway with aid of a pre purchased raffle ticket. I walked about some more and crossed paths with Dan Deacon himself. You can’t miss him, if you’ve seen him before. He looks like a dude that I would’ve procrastinated and joked around with in a computer class. I shared a few humble and polite words with him/tried to impress as I had seen him perform before, last summer at the Roskilde Festival in Denmark (which by the way is the greatest music festival in the world, so he has copious credibility in my eyes for that) He played at 2 am then to a huge crowd of a Danish dance party and everyone adored it.

I missed more than enough of the initial opening act; Teeth Mountain, to constitute not fully writing about them now (my “not-my-fault” apologies to them) but they sounded pretty good-instrumental-trippy-chic… the image of a mountain of teeth does creep me out a tad.

I did catch all of the other opening act; Future Islands, and I was quite impressed by how easily the lead singer and his minimalist poppy beats got my right leg gyrating and head bobbin’. He played the part like a mixture of Meat Loaf and Jack Black if they were in an electronic band, his energy was that boisterously good. I feel guilty as shit for being in a rush after the show and forgot to grab a copy of his album.

Future Islands – Pinnochio
Future Islands – Old Friend
Future Islands – Little Dreamer

My buddy Sai said to me randomly during a quiet moment as Dan Deacon was setting up that; “this is gonna be good”. I nodded and scanned over the gallery basement and noticed that everyone else seemed to have that same look of contented anticipation as Sai did when he spoke this to me.

Dan Deacon had instant control over the audience with his politely enforced audience directions and we all embraced it. With Dan’s instructions, we all knelt with an arm in the air, then later pointed to a photographer who wasn’t kneeling like the rest of us, cause he was perched upon a ladder for a better shot. Sporadic giggling was then muted out by Dan’s electronic mastery. During the show the audience was directed and engaged in large dance circle where more members were invited in by those already dancing. We also formed a standing human tunnel which lead us outside on the sidewalk, and then back in when it was our turn to pass under the raised arms as the beginning of the line became the end. This is the genius that is Dan Deacon; everyone moving about comfortably and part of the same dance organism. Fuck the oppression of just being confined to the original tiny tract of floor space as when you first arrive. We all moved about sharing and trading space, providing a great sense of audience euphoria (not to mention a better, closer photo op spot for those who were so inclined)

Dan Deacon just has this fun and strange awesomeness about himself. His music is wildly experimental, (i.e. his song Wooody Wooodpecker from his 2007 album; Spiderman of the Rings, that consists of the Woody Woodpecker laugh/call looped incessantly throughout mellowly escalating electronic pulsation, of which I must have listened to 24 times in a row when I first got that album before finally getting around to the other tracks, too bad he didn’t play it that night) it’s filled with kooky lyrics that you don’t need to know the origin of, just yell it out if you know them. For those that didn’t know any lyrics, he got all of us singing a song in unison towards the end of his show; “Silence like the wind overtakes me… Ooooohhhhh” (repeat) These words are still firmly implanted in my mind days later after the show. There’s something therapeutic about words that don’t necessarily make sense. Reminds me of my love of seeing those little kids at their parents side, say in a grocery store, waiting room, or walking down the street, and they are just crazily humming and making up their own songs for sheer personal amusement. We can all have that exciting and refreshing fun with Dan Deacon.

Dan Deacon – The Crystal Cat
Dan Deacon – Snookered
Dan Deacon – Get Older

Tags: concert