In which this icon is actually relevant

[ferrumaeternum]

I know I’m getting around to this kind of late, but this was my last week of classes and things were a bit hairy. I’ll try to keep this short, since it won’t make sense to the people who haven’t watched their television show. So, last Saturday was the Flight of the Conchords show at The Riverside. Both shows were sold out, which is a first for one I’ve gone to (although the Backstreet Boys concert I saw in fourth grade may have been). I had gone to the earlier show, thinking it would be best, since everyone should be feeling fresh and more motivated the first time around. But no, the later show got to hear “Business Time”…

Eugene Mirman opened for them, and not recognizing his name prior to the show, I was rather surprised that it was none other than the landlord/Saruman/guy from the Lake FM commercial. I loved how everyone cheered really loud for Bret who was simply introducing Eugene over the PA. Eugene was really funny and was able to poke fun at Jews, autism, and raping bears without offending the audience. There was a lot of interaction with them and joking about the bar fight the night before. The best part was his rant about Delta Airlines that made the fiasco my family had with Northwestworst seem like nothing. (Basically, they flew our luggage to Orlando after our flight had been canceled due to a storm and left a suitcase of my clothes behind in Detroit that was shipped to me a week after I got back.) Eugene made angry postcards for them and handed them out to the audience. I was sitting in the eighth row, so I got one before the stack ran out. On the front is a crayon drawing of him as a stick figure, crying, with an airplane in the sky, and reads, “I HATE YOU!” The back says…

Dear Delta Airlines,

My name is ___________. I am a fan of comedian and actor Eugene "Horsedick" Mirman (who you may recognize from his small, recurring role on HBO's Flight of the Conchords.) Mr. Mirman flew your airline from Seattle to New York, where you lost his luggage. Quick exposition: you delivered his luggage twice to the wrong address in Atlanta, GA, refused to pick it back up, then said you would pick it up, then never came, and then told him to file a claim and wait to hear back within 10 weeks. Eugene described his traumatic incident with your terrible airline on stage. As a result, I will never ever ever ever fly with you again. Your airline is worse than someone dressing up like Hitler as a joke and not understanding why that's offensive. If your airline was drowning, I would save you, but give you a look like, "I can't believe I'm saving such an asshole." To make things right, if I were you, I'd formally apologize to Eugene on television, give him controlling stock in Delta Airlines or $10,000 (whichever is greater), and lastly make a video of yourself punching yourself in the balls while going, "Why am I hitting myself?" and put it on youtube.

Yours Truly, ______

This was my first time seeing Flight of the Conchords, so I couldn’t help but thoroughly enjoy them. I’d heard at last year’s show there was a lot of heckling from the audience, but other than the “I love you, Jemaine!”s vs. the “I love you, Bret!”s that the guys quickly placated, it was fine. The only complaint I have is their set list. I liked the new songs from season two that I hadn’t heard yet (basic cable = no HBO), but most of the songs they played from the first season weren’t really the fan favorites. In fact, I love the guy who yelled a request of “She’s so Hot…Boom!” because they played mostly slower songs. It’s not that they weren’t funny, but I don’t think they have the same effect as the shorter, more ridiculous ones. They opened really strong with “Too Many Dicks on the Dance Floor” in cheap robot outfits (with shiny codpieces!) and then it kind of dwindled until they played “Mutha'uckas”, “Sugalumps” and finally the encore, which was complete with glam rock outfits and plenty of gold spandex from Jemaine.

Set List (from the order which I vaguely remember):
Too Many Dicks on the Dance Floor / Hurt Feelings/ The Ballad of Stana / Carol Brown / Jenny / Bus Driver’s Song / Bowie / I’m Not Crying / The Most Beautiful Girl (In the Room) / Mutha'uckas / If You’re into It / Sugalumps / Demon Woman / Foux du Fafa

Highlights:

• The “rockenspiel” which wasn’t even a proper glockenspiel, but a child’s xylophone instead. Jemaine started the song by clacking the little yellow plastic mallets together in the air. \m/
• Describing to the lighting tech how they wanted the mood before most of the songs.
• Jemaine forgetting one of the chords, followed by Bret telling the audience the chord sequence.
• More jokes about the bar fight.
• Introducing the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, which turned out to just be a cellist named Neil.
• Making fun of the people recording the concert and pointing out where they were, and telling the security to give them the “special surprise” they talked about. Of course, the only show I don’t sneak my camera in is the one where I don’t even get searched.
• “The Ballad of Stana”, which reminded me a lot of Nick Cave’s work, particularly “Stagger Lee”. Also, “Bowie”!
• The guy from the balcony who yelled something, and they thought he said, “I have to go now”. More banter ensued.
• Jemaine suggestively dancing and looking and gesturing at me during part of “Sugalumps”. I didn’t know whether to laugh, cheer, or be embarrassed. I know, that’s what I get for wearing a shirt with a large shiny blue-violet portrait of Ziggy Stardust-era Bowie on it. It’ll blind you when any kind of light is reflected off of it.
• Awesome romantic-style fretwork at the end of “Foux du Fafa”

No lowlights, since I’m just being overly picky about song choices and need to get over it because honestly, everything was very well done from the amusing stage banter to the raw musical talent they displayed. Even though they claim this is their last season for the show, I hope they’ll still tour so I’ll hopefully be able to hear some of the songs they missed this time around.

Pictures are here!