Toronto – First off, lets list the songs that I enjoyed that weren’t played:
Inner City Pressure
Hiphopoptamus vs Rhymenocerious
Think about it
Business Time
Leggy Blonde (although Murray/Rhys Darby wasn’t there..that’s expected)
Robots
Now that those are out of the way, how was the actual show? It was pretty good. I guess a little background would help – unless you lived in a cave (Afghanistan), or Northern Alberta or something, you will know that Flight of the Conchords is pretty much the most popular comedy show on HBO. It’s a comedy/music show following the trial and tribulations of two New Zealanders named Jemaine and Bret as they try to make it big as a folk based duo in NYC. Music is peppered through out each episode, with most musical numbers mimicking a certain genre of music including Pet Shop Boys:
french chamber pop:
and many others. Nevertheless, the show found a strong following and well, the Flight of the Conchords decided to tour and sold out two shows at Massey Hall in about five minutes. I was lucky enough to get tickets – not as lucky as my coworker, who was sitting fourth row, but still, lucky.
The show started on time! By the time we entered at 8:15, we was shocked to find that Eugene Mirman was already into his opener set AND the place was packed. That dude was funny. At around 8:40, Mirman thanked the crowd and IMMEDIATELY introduced the Conchords. Who woulda thought? I had guesstimated that they would go on at around 9:30. I guess Massey Hall has strict curfew policies so it is only natural that they came on early, but 8:40 – that must be a record time for a band to go on.
The “band” consisted of Bret and Jermaine, as expected and they opened up with “Too Many Dicks on the Dance Floor”. Thru out the rest of the 1:40 set, the band interchange between witty barbs and songs. Musically, they primarily relied on guitars, with the occasional synth and minor drums. Some dude named Nigel came out and was a multi instrumentalist while they primarily relied on prerecorded samples for some of the more complicated songs. The music they played primarily consisted on season 2 material, which was probably a great disappointment to many. I for one, think that the season 1 music was better then season 2, but that might be just my opinion. They did play “Foux Du Fafa”, “Mutha Uckas”, “The Most Beautiful Girl”, “Bowie” and “IF You’re Into It” among others from the first season. Some of the songs they played weren’t off either season and although they were funny, left the crowd wondering.
I had a good time at the show, Bret and Jermaine were hilarious and interacted with the crowd throughout the set. Even letting someone know that they knew he was taping them and suggested that they shut off the red light on their camcorder. Another good moment was when they stopped the show so that an audience member in the front row could take a bathroom break. All in all, it was an enjoyable night of entertainment, was it worth the 63$? Well I guess that depends on how big a fan you are.
