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Live in Dan Deaconville

Sometimes when a concert is just SO GOOD, I immediately realize I'm too lazy to do the concert the full justice it deserves, so I kinda just sit idle in terms of its appearance in this blog. But, now comes the time to post about the Dan Deacon in Vancouver B.C. show which was one of those such experiences. It was a lineup I was more than familiar with - Montag opening for everyone's favorite Wham City resident as I'd taken them in together but one month before in Glasgow, Scotland. And that's what brings me to the funny thing about the show - I've now caught him turning his light bulb on and off to the beat of his electronics three different times in three different countries. It's like I'm some super fan. Before the Vancouver show I would categorize myself as a casual fan - seeing him when the random chance arose, but after? I'm definitely a super fan! The show was like a celebration of being human. If only all concerts were like that. I'd settle for even a fraction.

The show began with support from Vancouver's own Montag - still proud to be gay and still bitching about the Olympics - in the most poppily poetic way possible. His boyfriend was in the audience which was cute. One of my fave Montag songs is about him so that was a fun admission from Montag when he made an onstage dedication to a someone on my right.

There was no ode to the Ying Yang Twins T-shirt in sight, but there were two adolescent boys directly up front facing the audience and seemingly craving some attention for their rave-like antics that didn't yet fit with the vibe of the night. They eventually got kicked out after some woman accused them of something. How do I know even that detail? Well, Meg and I had been watching them and as soon as we noticed their inevitable ejection, I raced down to the doors to listen in on what the security guards were scolding them about.

Next up was Ultimate Reality - a psychedelic montage of Arnold Swartzenegger footage with two drummers and some read-aloud action from Jimmy Joe Roche in regular intervals. It was pretty rad and the drummer from Ponytail was pretty cute. After the show him and Meg had a short convo about high-waisted jeans. Not only cute, but now tres cool.

So the main event? Not only did Dan Deacon attempt the human tent/gauntlet thing, but the dance circle too! Whenever I've seen him prior it's been one or the other, not both and I've never seen either executed so well! Canadians not only know how to follow directions, but they know how to take it up a notch too.

(every one points downwards as warm-up)

Can we just briefly talk about how cool the dictionary's definition of gauntlet is?
Gauntlet: go through an intimidating or dangerous crowd, place, or experience in order to reach a goal.

Oh how I'm loving you more and more Dan Deacon!

I got tagged into the dance circle. It was really funny - Meg and I were stumping to be the first in so that we could do the Crank Dat Soulja Boy dance that we know by heart from staying up until 6am too many nights in a row to watch various tribute and instructional videos. We weren't and Dan's rule was that one person from each half of the circle had to be tagged in at a time eliminating the possibility of us going in together since we were standing together. Everyone tagged in was doing beyond elaborate dances and once Meg made certain I was thrown to the wolves by volunteering me to the next one in hahahaha, I did not do the Crank Dat dance. TonyX said I looked like a hippy during my turn. Why? Because each couple of people tagged in were dancing with each other - some gracefully, some seeking bodily harm and there was no way I was gonna lose an eye at Dan Deacon, so I did flow-y movements to deter my random dance partner from trying to dance with me and keep him at arms length hahahaha. As I understand it, dance partners weren't even the original intention, but rather a dance-off.

(me dancing taken by Tony)

Back in December I asked Dan to open one of his Portland shows with "It's Dan Deacon, bitch" in an ode to Britney. He said if he remembered, he would. Before the show I asked him whether he had, and while he remembered, he didn't end up doing it because he has "issues with the word bitch." Okay... If he wasn't opening his mouth to sing during his Vancouver set, he was opening it to swear.
We gave him a touch-on, touch-off light shaped like a lightbulb beforehand after he asked to keep it from out portrait session at 8pm. And he incorporated it into his live set! Awesomeness! It got passed around too - too much fun to watch from above standing on the beyond sweltering balcony.

Oh - and I got to rock the mic for my second time at a Dan Deacon show! In a brief pause between songs, I took the opportunity to rush him and start shouting: "Harry Potter, Book 6. Smoke weed everyday." He passed the mic to me, ran it through the vocoder and I shouted and shouted, then began passing the mic to people hoping they'd follow along. They didn't quite know what was going on, which isn't so bad given it was his first ever B.C. show (gasp! shock! the horror!) and he didn't explain for even a second what was going on/the jist of the "song." It was so fun/funny!

This show was definitely the best and most memorable of all three times I've seen him. It appeared to also be so for him as when the show was ending, he took a moment to mention how he has been perpetually touring for the past year and a half and the Vancouver B.C. show at Richard's on Richards was an especially special one. It broke through in the cycle of things for him. It was touching. Cue soft focus lenses if it were being filmed for Oprah.

I'm SOOOOO glad I saw him in B.C. over PDX based on just about everyone's reviews of the attendees at his duo of Portland shows. He said he felt like he had to remind people to dance at them - even the all-ages program at Backspace. And from what I hear of the Holocene show, it was more people coming to watch a show than be apart of one, which I guess had to happen at some point given the press on the craziness that ensues when he parks his electronic and lights just below the stage.

Hands down one of the best concerts of 2008 already.

It's Dan Deacon, bitch

I didn't see Kanye West, but I saw the next best - or better best. Yes - having not managed my way onto the glist at the SECC (tracking down Mr. West's info is a bit like finding the personal details for Miss Spears) I turned to the other show that had just winged it's way into my consciousness - Dan Deacon at Nice N' Sleazy's. With some VERY last minute maneuvering on behalf of Dan's right-hand man Chester (not a grinning cat though) Endersby Gwazda and pr man with the mostest Daniel Gill I sauntered downstairs with a band already on. Who was it? Who was it? Why it was only Gay Against You!!! I hadn't seen the duo since I last was in Glasgow - literally days before I moved back to the States in '06. We took photos at the University.

Literally - what was the FIRST thing I listened to when I got to Leigh's flat in Maryhill just last week? "Gay Unicorn!" Oh how the planets aligned for me on this night hahahahaha. They saved the track for their encore.

During their set they were all over the place - hovering at the ceiling, sprawled on the floor and getting a lil' help in the form of a human mic stand.

"Gay Unicorn" Gay Against You MP3 -pure pop perfection - if pop checked out of a mental institute earlier than ordered.

http://www.myspace.com/gayagainstyou

Next up was multi-instrumentalist Montag (Deutsch for Monday) - hailing from the fine country that is Canada. He's French-Canadian chic and held a conversation with a fellow Quebec dweller on and off through out his set - so much so that he started speaking to the crowd in French before realizing - hey - we speak English here hahaha. He said seeing Dan Deacon is like a "soul massage" and spoke about how happiness is a choice. Bright words, but sometimes hard to adhere to. Montag currently is living it up in Vancouver when not on tour, though perhaps 'living it up' isn't the best phrasing as now that the Olympics are moving in, it's not really his bag anymore more which he went into briefly from the stage.

Noting that we'd just seen Gay Against You, he continued on that he was "gay for you."

He's very fun! Oh - and the shirt he was wearing proved his allegiance lies not with Mr. Andre 3000, but the Ying Yang Twins as it proclaimed "Shake it like a Salt Shaker" as opposed to a polaroid. What 'till you see my...

Dan Deacon was next. Let's fast-forward to after the show shall we? I requested that Dan open either or both of his forthcoming Portland dates in January with "It's Dan Deacon bitch."

Yeah - I'm that obsessed with Britney. Anyone says the word bitch anymore and I instantly relate it to "Gimme More." Dan made that mistake when he was trying to get people to dance and came up with this elaborate plot in which two cartoon characters including Daffy the Duck make their way into the club looking like hot shit and throw down $2K and tell us we better dance in so many words, concluding the command with "Bitch!"

Did this make people dance? Well, kind of, well almost...
The show was SO different to his show at Holocene during MusicFest NW and what I see happening at most all his American shows.

We got our work out early on during his soundcheck. He's rocking an i-pod shuffle now. Yes. An i-pod shuffle. As if it wasn't hard enough for him to keep his songs straight with a more streamlines actual ipod, he's moved to an even more shady contraption. It turns off at any given moment and rather frequently - clearly the tool of choice for a live show! I asked him why he got a shuffle and he said it was because he's cheap and it was cheaper than getting a replacement i-pod when his other died.

What does he have on there other than his own tracks? Why only House of Pain! he played it and I requested he take it to the chorus and he did. He played it repeatedly in fact. Instead of seeing Kanye cry and sing about touching the sky - Dan had us kneeling on the ground and reaching for the sky (or at least the ceiling) ourselves with our palms and index fingers and visually harassing strangers. Very strange, very fun.

I made my request early on for "Harry Potter. Book 6. Smoke weed everyday" and got it. He even handed me the mic and started modifying my voice. People followed along, but didn't really know what was going on with the chanting.

He also passed the mic off to this guy who talked soaps and other random things.

Soon he had us doing a circular version of Soul Train as opposed to his usual human tent thing. The dance circle had four instructions - one of them being to look "sassy as fuck." Dan didn't seem to impressed with the footwork - apparently London did it better just a few days prior - I never got tagged in. Boo.

Dance, dance! (We're falling apart to half time...) (Yes - I just snuck a FOB track in! Pete Wentz 4eva!)

He had no lyrics sheets for "Wham City," but we sang along anyway!
For the last song - performed well over his appointed set end time, we/he wrote a song on the spot and then it was over - another fascinating cartoon filled adventure into the warped mind of a rallying Mr. Deacon.

"The House I Was Isn't My Girlfriends Porsche" Dan Deacon MP3

After the show I overheard this girl saying to her friends "It's hardwork being poor" Ain't that the truth! Ain't that the truth! God - and if I view it as work, it somehow makes it more bearable, so I thank my ears for eavesdropping and her acknowledging that truth aloud. It's difficult enough being poor in Portland, but especially over here where the pound is worth double the dollar and a lot of the people I've been running with here are rich, rich, rich.

So as I made my way up the stairs a couple was discussing their babysitter just ahead of me. Who were they? Well, just Paul Thomson and a fabulous looking Esther of course! hahaha I knew there was no way I was gonna be in Glasgow and not come across at least one Franz Ferdinander.