pacificlectic : concert reviews & eclectic music news

Well, let’s just say… this show was mutha’uckin’ AWESOME!!!

Before the show, there was a spot-on Murray look-a-like in the crowd.  A little bit younger looking, but definitely pretty damn close.  At around 7:45pm, the lights dimmed and what sounded like Jemaine (from FOTC) announced the opener.  Arj Barker, who plays Dave on HBO’s Flight of the Conchords show, came out and did a hilarious 30-minute stand-up routine.  Very witty humor.  He’s got a Comedy Central special coming soon, plus he’ll be doing his own solo tour later in the year.  Should be fun… I’d definitely recommend Arj, and if he comes near me again (Eugene, please?), I’ll be there.

Arj introduced Flight of the Conchords Jemaine Clement and Bret McKenzie immediately after his set, and they came out swinging right away in their robot costumes.  To which they immediately broke into a song from their 2nd season, “Too Many Dicks on the Dance Floor.”  They never got back into their robot costumes again, which was… well… unfortunate.  Great show though.  They also had a cellist, Nigel, who was “New Zealand’s symphony orchestra.”  Due to budget cuts, Nigel is the entire NZ symphony orchestra. :)  Here’s what they played…

Setlist: (YT: YouTube video from the HBO show)

• Too Many Dicks on the Dance Floor (YT)
• Hurt Feelings (YT) (*a fave of the night*)
• The Ballad of Stana
• The Most Beautiful Girl (in the Room) (YT) (*a fave of the night*)
• Carol Brown (Stick Around)
• Jenny
• Hiphopopotamus vs. Rhymenoceros (YT) (*a fave of the night*)
• I’m Not Crying (YT)
  
• Freebird (upon request, but we think it was a planted request… Bret moved over to drums)
• Mutha’uckas (YT) (Bret continuing on drums – *a fave of the night*)
• Business Time (YT) (*a fave of the night*)
• Think About It (Think, Think About It) (YT)
• Lazy Eye
• Sugalumps (YT)
• Encore: Albi the Racist Dragon (YT)
  
• Bus Driver’s Song
• Bowie (YT)

The only real disappointment was the obvious lack of “Robot Song (The Humans Are Dead)” (YT).  “Foux Da Fa Fa” (YT), “If You’re Into It” (YT), and “Ladies of the World” (YT) would have been fun, too.  They show was really great, though.  They played and talked and talked and played for an hour and 45 minutes.  Really funny, and I liked most of the new songs… I’m looking forward to the 2nd season when it comes out on DVD (as I don’t have HBO).  I wasn’t able to take any photos due to the venue’s rules.  Here is one from SPIN‘s Miami review (more further down in the links):

The Appropriate Linkage:

• Flight of the Conchords webpage
• Flight of the Conchords on MySpace
• Arj Barker webpage
• Arj Barker on MySpace
• SPIN Review from Miami
• SPIN Photos from Miami
• Arlene Schnitzer Hall in Portland, OR

~Dan – np: Wynton Marsalis – He and She