Monday, April 13, 2009
The Spin Flight of the Conchords at The Ryman 4/10/09
Posted by The Spin on Mon, Apr 13, 2009 at 9:53 AM
See the slideshows for more photos: Flight of the Conchords; Kristen Schaal.
Damn The Ryman's confounded early start times. For fear of showing up late, we jogged through the Saturday-evening drizzle down 5th Avenue, scarfing the last bit of our Rodeo Cheeseburger in order to make it in time for Flight of the Conchords. We were, of course, just being paranoid, because we entered the fabled venue with enough spare time to join the snaking beer line before finding our seats. After unintentionally overhearing a painfully intimate story from the girl behind us, we snagged a frosty, 11-dollar 24-ounce and hustled into the auditorium. It was finally business time.
We thought we heard a familiar voice from the lobby, and our suspicions were confirmed when we seated ourselves in the balcony: The opening comic was Kristen Schaal, known better to Flight of the Conchords fans as Mel, the obsessive FOTC groupie from the series. Clearly a tinge more self-aware than her alter ego, Schaal utilized a handful of absurdist playlets and her bizarre (but strangely compelling) persona to elicit a genuinely powerful response.
Clad in robot apparati, the Conchords opened with the instant club classic "Too Many Dicks on the Dance Floor" while bathed in the reflection of the Ryman's disco ball. (Or did they bring their own?) They proceeded to play the bulk of their set on acoustic-electric guitars, and it pretty quickly dawned on us that the vast majority of their material is lascivious pseudo-funk: numbers about layin' a woman down and whatnot sung in a ridiculous but consistently entertaining falsetto.
We'd hoped to hear "Bowie," one of our favorite FOTC jams, and while it was absent from their set, standards like "If That's What You're Into" and "Business Time" made the cut. Bret and Jemaine preemptively apologized to any music critics in the house for their sub-par chops, but they were actually at least passable at a handful of instruments (drums, Omnichord, guitar, keys and glockenspiel), and most mistakes were pretty endearing.
Perhaps the most obnoxious occurrence of the evening was the increasingly unruly crowd, who shouted "Freebird!" about four too many times, went berserk when Bret made mention of East Nashville and constantly hollered lines they recollected from the Flight of the Conchords series. You'd think living amongst the country strain of celebutards would desensitize Nashvillians to becoming severely starstruck, but a lot of folks seemed thrilled simply to be in the presence of people they seen on the tee-vee. Regardless, the Conchords battled back with some pretty hilarious faux Southern accents, and it's nice to see that New Zealand's fourth most popular folk-novelty duo has transcended obscurity far more than they'd ever let on.
Comments (10)
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FOTC also played a "secret show" at Zanies on Saturday, April 4th. They played a brief 15 minute set after Mitch Fatel. I'm pretty sure they played all new songs.
Unfortunately they didn't bust out the robot suits at this show.
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been hearing about FOTC sightings all weekend and experienced one myself (Marche, Station Inn) Mel was loud.
Drove 5 hours to see this show, white-knuckled for much of the way due to the weather, only to have the concert ruined by the drunken morons heckling FOTC, and the people in the front seats CONSTANTLY getting up to go the lobby, or the bathroom, or whereever. I have always viewed Nashville crowds as polite and attentive, but this audience was about the rudest I've ever seen.
FOTC used East Nashville based designers/stylists Kelli Craig and Lalie Kavulich-Crist of The Gilded Cage as their wardrobe stylists for the Ryman show!
Kristen Schaal's filty nasty routine pretty much ruined the evening for me. It's a shame that she kas to stoop so low for her humour.
If a comedian saying words like "penis" and "fuck" genuinely ruined the evening for you, then you must have a miserable life. I'm very sorry.
I agree with Spinner. Schaal's performance was great and if you find yourself offended by the standard fodder of comedians - you should have showed up intentionally late.
I think FOTC welcomed a bit of crowd interaction but Nashville made sure to prove that dumbass rednecks rule the land. "Freebird", really? More than once? REALLY?
At least the overly drunk guy who decided to dance up front did so during their worst song.
In the end, you still have to respect the fact that New Zealand's fourth most popular folk parody duo sold out the Ryman.
I like the TV show, but I'm afraid going to see them perch on some stools with acoustic guitars kind of bypasses the point, anyway. I'd have been ten times more excited to see them out somewhere enjoying Nashville...
Then again, my record collection doesn't have a comedy section. Okay, it does, but none of it has music on it. Well, there is Oasis...
I thought the show was fantastic, but then again, I was enjoying it from the 4th row, so a lot of riff-raff was lost on me. I'd like to think all of the offending parties WERE NOT from Nashville, but you never know. I personally agree that shouting "FREEBIRD!" at any show is downright lame, but I'm certainly not going to let that interfere with my blissful engagement with Bret & Jermaine.
So how does seeing them "perched on some stools with acoustic guitars" bypass the point?? That has always BEEN the point. Newsflash: THE SHOW CAME AFTER THEY PERCHED ON STOOLS WITH ACOUSTIC GUITARS! Maybe they should have had a disclaimer saying, "If you only know our show, don't bother coming to see us. You won't get it."
And Kristen was adorable. If you've followed her career at all PRE-FotC, then you'd know that is exactly the type of comedy that has won her quite a few accolades in the Big Apple from the likes of The New Yorker, etc. As a member of the Story Pirates, they act out stories written by childen. For her act, she just takes that concept a little further with slightly bit more twisted edge. Next time, we'll be sure to slap a "PARENTAL ADVISORY" sticker on your ticket, MJB, so that your night won't be ruined again.
Nashville is soooo full of critics... blows my mind sometimes... get over yourself & do something better, if you're not happy with something you've seen. Otherwise, please PLEASE just STFU (censored for MJB's virgin eyes)!!
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