In case you don’t already know: Dan Deacon will take your idea of live music, light it on fire, and throw it out into the unexpected void beyond to fend for itself. Don’t walk into the show expecting anything because most likely whatever you would have expected will just be utterly trampled and ripped to shreds by the end of the night. And I mean that in the best way possible- just be a willing captive.
To make up for his cancellation at FYF Fest, Dan played the Center for the Arts in Eagle Rock last Friday, October 17th along with Moses Campbell and Nuclear Power Pants. I almost gave in to my lazy side and didn’t go (Eagle Rock is no easy drive from the westside), but I just had these nagging feelings telling me if I didn’t go I would have the worst regrets. So off I went to probably the most incredible show I’ve been to this fall.
By the time I actually got to the venue, Moses Campbell had already come and gone, but soon enough the east coast geek-rockers Nuclear Power Pants entered the stage with a freakish bang: all the instrumentalists were wearing large, neon green, felt, cheese-wedge shaped shark head pieces with floppy orange teeth obscuring the heads of those wearing them. Black lights illuminated the stage, which really looked great lighting up the librarian outfits of the three girls chanting “oh my god!” or about ponies and the like. I was reminded of the B-52s in the way that the three danced nerdily in unison while two bearded men in collared shirts jerked their mic’s around the stage. My only complaint was the sound system did not do the band justice- the drums and bass pretty much obscured the synth, guitars, and vocals.
Nuclear Power Pants- Graveyard
Somehow during the set change I worked my way through the crowd up the very front of the stage. Exhausted from battling the very drunk flailing dancers to get there, I sat down on the edge of the stage. After a minute, I heard a voice above me announce that we all needed to move back so the speakers could get put in position. I look up, and what do I see hovering above my head? That scraggly red beard, those oversized yellow glasses- Dan! The drunk girls are sent into hysterics.
In the ensuing shuffle I get pushed back in the crowd, behind the tall men that always seem to be placed front and center. Once Dan has satisfactorily set up the wall of speakers, the strobelight-backlit halloween masks, and the neon green skull adorned light pillar, the show begins. He starts with leading us all through his pre-show rituals which involve screaming at the top of our lungs and reaching our left arms up towards an imagined head of hair dangling just out of reach, and letting it fall on top of the head of the person in front of you. Then, the music starts. I’m going to say this again and again: it was nuts. As soon as the driving pulse and frenetic drums hit the crowd, everyone instinctively began moving together. Head bobbing turned into full-body movement; cue the projectors flooding the crowd with crazy visuals, strobe lights flashing behind the freakish masks, red yellow and blue lights flickering on and off so quickly that everything took the appearance of a 3-D movie without the right glasses; and suddenly instead of a crowd you have a hectic mass of people, all drowning in their own endorphins and moshing not just to mosh, but just because you can’t not freakout with music, lights, and energy like that.
Not only did Dan crush us all underneath his heavy beats, but turned his show from being just a show into an experiment in public manipulation. We all know he is super innovative in his conception of the live-music experience (remember his Round Robin Tour?), but this was the first time I had experienced it first hand. About halfway through the show, he called out for all the house lights to come up and somehow managed to get the eager crowd to back off into a loose circle around the floor, and pulls one sweaty, totally stoked dude into the middle. Over the chatter, Dan makes an announcement. “We are all dying! We have all been injected with a horrible poison and the only one with the antidote is THIS GUY.” We are instructed to put out our hands and if we recieve a high five, we are cured and must run around the inside of the circle to give out our own high fives and save everybody. Soon enough everyone is pushing and dancing around in a circle, blatantly ignoring the designated “slow motion zone” between two pillars, and after about a minute of this no one can stand it anymore- the call to dance was too strong and the pit resumed its original intensity and disorder.
Interspersed throughout the almost two-hour set were little events like this, little moments of crowd bonding and reasons to forget your inhibitions and act unsophisticated for once. We were instructed to raise our hands up and towards the middle of the room, accompanied by a sountrack of his mellower songs, and place them, again, on the head of the person in front of you. Interestingly enough, this time around no one was afraid to let their hand rest against the head of a stranger- we were all in it together, after all. The commanding voice of Dan instructed us to think about the person we love the most, their smile, their voice; he instructed us to think about the the thing that we are most ashamed of, the most guilt-inducing moment. The crowd tensed slightly, but then we all lifted our hands in the air and let it all go- it was exhilarating, and the music led us seamlessly into the happiness we were supposed to feel.
At another point some guy named Paul led us in a group interpretive dance. And lastly- the tunnel! Remember forming those spirit tunnels at AYSO soccer games and running under them? Well, imagine doing that with a few hundred people all cheering and moving in time to the music. Running through the tunnel was an experience to be remembered- it seemed neverending and everyone was just as stoked to see you running through it as you were to be doing it. It stretched out the door of the venue and around the block, back inside. Some guy in front of me told me he felt like he was exiting the womb. Excellent.
As tired, dehydrated, and covered in other people’s sweat as I was, I probably could have stayed there the whole night. It was way too much fun, and Dan has definitely been added to my list of people who I will go see no matter what. If Dan Deacon comes your way, man up and buy a ticket- there’s nothing wrong with being a convert.
amen!
Thank you for info.