Dan Deacon at Mercury Lounge – photos + videos
Dan Deacon sets up his table in front of the stage and tapes a luminous green skull on a mic stand raised high. Amongst other things, his essential setup includes a midi controller, effects for his voice, a small collection of lights he syncs up with the music himself, a disc man he bought from Radioshack and other haphazard-looking electronics. As much as of an unorthodox musician he may appear to be, he’s got a natural way of defying awkwardness. It takes him no effort to connect with the audience and warmly welcome them into his universe as if this were his house party.
“Wham City”
(Photos & more videos after the jump)
Dan had gotten into a little scuffle with the waitress over the issue of turning off the AC, saying that he likes it hot. So he began the show by organizing an “AC is inappropriate” chant. When the AA batteries for his disc man died, he started singing, “My battery died, my battery died,” and continued in this tune to direct members of Ponytail and other friends to fetch the new pack of batteries shoved somewhere in his bag. He played older songs and several from Spiderman of the Rings, including “The Crystal Cat,” “Snake Mistakes” and “Trippy Green Skull.” With one hand he held the mic and with other he either controlled various sounds or synchronized the light, including periods of darkness, red wash, green wash, bright yellow or the flickering green skull.
Later on there was a dance tag, for which he asked the audience to form a large circle and participate in a contest where each dancer would tag the next one. Several friends present were familiar with this tradition, but Dan Deacon, suggesting weariness over the old trick, said that perhaps this will be the last tour where he does this (but we hope he’ll change his mind).
Dance tag (I missed the first dancer!)
Dan had several other spontaneous things to say, one of which was that if you watched it without reserve, Matrix 3 is an amazing movie. This confused a fan who asked if there was a Matrix 4 out, but Deacon said Matrix 3 was on On-Demand. He was also thankful that there wasn’t a mosh pit at this show. Though I assume it’s a recurring phenomenon at his energetic performances, mosh pits at a Dan Deacon show would certainly be ironic, he being a rare musician gleaming with pure, uncontaminated kind of love. So much so that he’s got a traditional prayer in which everyone holds hands with his/her neighbors, raising their arms. The prayer is essentially an apology to a friend whose Netflix DVDs Dan has lost, fully aware that the account was under the friend’s girlfriend’s name. Describing a bruise he’d gotten at a most pit during one of his performances, he referred to the shape of the platform found in the video game Doom, going on to share his reviews of other similar games. To the waitress he said that he likes a person with a strong opinion.
For the last song, the 11-minute “Wham City,” there was a stack of lyrics available, passed around so that the audience could sing the big chorus. If you want in on the fun, drink coffee and wear comfortable shoes for the August NYC show he’s trying to put together. As for now, last night was the last of the two NYC dates included in the current tour.
Previously:
- Ponytail at Mercury Lounge – video + photos
- Videohippos touring w/ Dan Deacon – mp3 + NY date?
- Dan Deacon: Spiderman of the Rings
More videos:
