perils of concert going

[orangerful]

So, had a nice little double-concert weekend.

First up, on Saturday, I took my Mom to the Rams Head Tavern for her early Mother's Day gift. I bought her dinner and we went to see Jonathan Coulton. A few years ago, one of her co-workers had made her a JoCo mix and she really enjoyed it so I thought it would be fun to see him live. When I bought the tickets, I had not been to PAX so I had not see him either (now he is also playing Dragon*Con, so I went from never seeing him to seeing him 3 times in the same year).

ANYWAY! Paul & Storm opened for JoCo. They opened for him at PAX East. And they did pretty much the same show. They are a funny couple of guys, but to me, they are more of a comedy show that happens to have some music in it. And that fact that the set list was almost exactly the same as PAX East makes me think they know what works and they just stick to it. It's all about getting to the punchlines. I enjoy seeing them live and listening to the banter and waiting for the "That's my _____ cover band" gag, but I don't think I'd ever just listen to their stuff on my iPod.

Jonathan Coulton, on the other hand, writes some great songs that I can sing and enjoy anywhere





Did I mention our seats were really close? Cuz they were.

JoCo did a great mix of his stuff, even played a couple new songs from the upcoming album, which I liked a lot, especially the one on ukelele. I don't know all of his songs by heart, but I know enough. He opened with IKEA which my mom and I both know so that was good. He played Re: Your Brains, which I think was one of the first songs my Mom and I ever heard by him. He teased the song from Portal 2, but those of us that had not beaten the game begged him to please not spoil it, so he just played Still Alive. And there was lots of witty banter and laughs. Great show, I would see him again (well, I WILL be seeing him again in September! LOL!)

Then there was tonight, which was an experience (I'm sure lostacanthus and simontrueheart will chime in on this one). Learned a very valuable lesson of doing some research BEFORE buying tickets to a show by someone you're only sort of familiar with...or at least doing some research before going to the show.



I <3 Community, therefore when Donald Glover announced his IAMDONALD tour, I was all over that and snatched up tickets as soon as they went on sale. I wasn't really aware of his Childish Gambino act, but assumed that, since he was a funny guy, it must be funny rap.

Yeah, no, he does comedy AND he raps, but not necessarily at the same time. Or at the same show. But, I will say, the 30 minutes of goofy at the start of the show was a LOT of fun. I would love to see a show that is all comedy - doesn't have to be stand-up, but a combination of sketches and such would be great.

So it was quite the experience, being at a concert where I knew nothing about the headlining act, none of the songs, and the sound at Rams Head Live was horrible so it sounded mostly like this to me:

BASSBEATBASSBEATdonaldgloverrappingDRUMDRUMDRUMDRUMDRUMchildishBASSDRUMDRUMBASSVIOLINBASSBASSgambinoDRUNKGUYSINGINGRAPPINGSOMETHING

So since I didn't know the lyrics, I couldn't even tell you what he was saying, except that he really likes to rap about pussy, getting laid, and also throwing in random 80s childhood references for good measure. But I did get to bounce around a bit, that's always a good time. I think if I had been more familiar with his songs I would have enjoyed it more...except I don't really listen to rap so that wasn't going to happen anyway...

And now, after both of those shows, I've got concert fever!!!! But no one I like is touring near by - Marron 5 jumps RIGHT over Maryland (WTF!), Weird Al hasn't posted any MD dates yet...Jem has a new album in the works so I'm hoping that means a US tour...just missed Guster because I had too much else going on...Joseph Arthur appears to only be playing in NYC at the moment...blurgh! Maybe something cool will come to Merriweather. I like that venue...

Comments

[lostacanthus.livejournal.com]

lol someone's got video up already!



I liked the rapping cause I knew what I was in for, lol. But I do think there could have been more comedy! When I looked in the mirror in the car, I realized I laughed so hard I cried the wings of my eyeliner off. (so much for it being waterproof :P)

LMAO I love that description! Hell, that's still pretty much what it sounded like to me too xD TBH I didn't really like his stuff all that much at first, cause I was like, WTF IS THIS? Like, I didn't know whether to take it seriously or what, but I think I just wasn't thinking of Childish Gambino and Donald Glover being separate ~people~. ANYWAY! It's definitely grown on me. A lot. It's so crude, but sometimes it just feels good to shout it all at the top of your lungs.

I think it's super badass that he has a fucking violin player. If someone told me when I was in elementary school that I could play violin AND be totally badass while playing, maybe I wouldn't have quit, lol.

I'd see it again. If I had the money/means (and if there were tickets left?) I'd be ALL UP ON HIS PA SHOW OMFG

[orangerful.livejournal.com]

As I said to simontrueheart on the walk back to the car, I was getting the vibe that perhaps people were only into his rapping because he is 1) cute and 2) famous. I'm not really into rap anyway, but that didn't seem like very good rap. But I'll give him points for doing what he loves and not caring what anyone says, even Future!Donald.

[ekaterin24.livejournal.com]

I've tried a little Paul and Storm but I can't get into them the way I did to DaVinci's Notebook. Such brilliant lyrics and harmony! (reminds me, I need to buy the MP# of "Big Chair, Little Truck")

I must explore Jonathan Coulton more!

Weird Al *must* come to MD! Or at least to DC.

[orangerful.livejournal.com]

Paul & Storm are more about the randomness of the show than the actual songs. Their fans tend to be really loud too, shouting things out and such, not that they don't encourage it. But the music is just sorta...yeah. I've heard of DaVinci's Notebook but never actually HEARD them.

JoCo is awesome. Now that I have all of this songs, I'm really enjoying his "lesser known" stuff a lot. Good variety of straight up goofy to downright sweet (there is one about Charon comforting Pluto after it was demoted, and it's just sweet, it's called "I'm your moon". and another one about the Laika, which makes me sad to hear...)

I will keep EVERYONE posted on the Weird Al situation, no worries ;-)

[ekaterin24.livejournal.com]

I can loan you my "Life and Times of Mike Fanning" CD of DaVinci's Notebook. It's probably their best album.

"I'm your moon" sounds adorable. I must hear it.

Laika's story is sad. Have you ever read the graphic novel "Laika"? If not, I think you'd like it. IIRC, AACPL has it.

[maybedeadcat.livejournal.com]

There's something that feels wrong reading your posts about pussy and getting laid while working the desk in children's.

[orangerful.livejournal.com]

tsk tsk checking Livejournal while you're at work on the desk!!!! :-P