Flight of the Conchords

Approachability: High
(Hilarity: Very Very Very High)

It’s Business Time.

Now that that’s out of the way…

Seeing them for the 2nd time, this time in a much bigger venue, and from much farther away, I can still say that they put on one of the most entertaining shows out there. I said it the first time, and I’ll stand by it now.

They are so incredibly talented; they’re witty, intelligent, hilarious, and, somehow, they tie it all together into musically-competent songs. Their early songs, and subsequently their first season on HBO, were so incredible. I mean that season was one of the pillars of Sunday Funday. Unfortunately, I think they’ve faded considerably in what I’ve seen of the second season, but their live show was at least as good as last year’s.

Kristen Schaal (Mel) opened for Bret and Jermaine, and, while she wasn’t quite as funny as Arj Barker last year, her quirky, silly, awkward material definitely warmed up the crowd.

They played mostly older stuff (thanks!) but mixed in some of their [better] new songs, but usually played the newer stuff in a new arrangement. They screwed up a bunch of times, and I’m still not really sure if that’s just them, or if that’s part of the plan. Either way it worked. Very well. Here are some of the more hilarious mix-ups:

• Jermaine’s omnichord wouldn’t play anything on the 2nd song of the night
• Bret totally blew the first chorus on “The Humans are Dead“
• Jermaine apparently played his steel drum too early, and played “the wrong– different– notes,” in “You Don’t Have to be a Prostitute,” but the audience couldn’t hear the steel drum anyway
• The sound guys ran out to mic up Jermaine’s xylophone – again so the audience could anything at all
• Jermaine had to stall before his first part of “Hiphopapotamus vs. Rhymenocerous” in the encore
• They played some new song about a desperado-esque, old-school, western gun-slinging outlaw. Neither of them knew all the words, and it was like 8 minutes long.
• The crowd heckled so persistently that we were shushed like babies. “We did this for 45 minutes in Atlanta. Seriously, shut up.” (In their defense, they did actually play lots of what people were yelling out.)
• Complaints because of the omnipresent “Freedbird” cat calls. Apparently kiwis don’t know that song.

I guess that’s just FOTC. My cheeks hurt by the end of the show.

Flight of the Conchords – The Most Beautiful Girl in the Room
Flight of the Conchords – Bowie
Flight of the Conchords – Ladies of the World

Sometimes you just need to see it:
Flight of the Conchords – Girlfriends from the Past (Carol Brown)
Flight of the Conchords – Jenny
Flight of the Conchords – I’m Not Crying

-Weird Jim

Black Kids, Mates of State, SUNBEARS!, oh my!

This past Saturday, I saw the Black Kids with Mates of State at the 9:30 Club in Washington, DC. I love seeing bands from Jacksonville, and the Black Kids rocked out. The openers, SUNBEARS!, are actually Ali Youngblood’s (the Black Kids’ lead singer, Reggie’s, sister) neighbors, which I thought was pretty funny. The show was awesome, and we got there early enough to get a sweet standing area right by the stage – gotta love 9:30 Club. Keep reading for more, and check out the photo gallery for more pictures from the show.

SUNBEARS!
Approachability: Medium/Low

The show opened with fellow-Jacksonville-locals SUNBEARS!, and they put on a strong show. I listened to some of their stuff the night before on their myspace-music page, and I admittedly thought it was a bit of mixed bag…but they put on a hell of a show. Insane videos, flag waving, crazy lights (controlled by the drummer via pedals!), a bass guitar strummed like an electric, a huge bouncing latex-looking balloon thing, confetti – and some awesomely electro-indie-pop music.

Check out their myspace page to hear some of their music. I recommend either “Little Baby Pines” or “I’m Alive!” both are very sweet.

Black Kids
Approachability: High

After a hilarious comment about Reggie’s “superman-like spandex denim,” from the SUNBEARS!, Black Kids finally came on stage, and the crowd went wild. They were freaking amazing. Amazing. If you know the band, then I doubt you expected otherwise, but, umm, wow did they rock. They played everything off the album (I mean, it is only 38 minutes long…) and some new stuff (a song called “UFO Cool,” good, not quite perfect yet?). When they played “I’m Not Gonna Teach…,” people were re-throwing the SUNBEARS!’s confetti into the air. It was a great show – energetic, upbeat, rocking, funny, etc. – all the stuff we know and love the Black Kids for.

Black Kids – Hit the Heartbreaks
Black Kids – I’ve Underestimated My Charm (Again)

Mates of State
Approachability: Medium

Mates of State were also very good, but the Black Kids are an awfully hard band to follow. I was actually a little surprised to see more than two people on stage (isn’t that kind of their hook? mates of state?) but they played an awesome show either way. I know Mates of States mostly from their Re-Arrange Us album, and thought they delivered on it well. That said, I really bought the ticket to see the Black Kids, so by encore time, it was time to head out.

I think that’s what they call “beating traffic” at sporting events. I bet a ton of Michigan State fans “beat traffic” last night – heee-yooo!

Mates of State – My Only Offer

Post-Concert
After meeting some friends in the [super, super, ridiculously crowded] Local 16 on U Street, we ended the night at Bourbon in Adams Morgan, because Jefferson’s Reserve was obviously a good idea at 2:15 in the morning. Eventually we cabbed home.

I couldn’t get “Hit The Heartbreaks” out of my head all night.