Flight of the Conchords

I cannot remember falling in love so quickly and thoroughly with anything as I did with Flight of the Conchords. I started watching their HBO show religiously last year as soon as I had television access. I watched youtube clips. I listened to as much free music as I could. (At the end of the day, I still make $0, after all.) I dragged friends into the obsession. We started quoting/singing at each other. And then! a tour was announced! I couldn't scare up $65 fast enough. Seriously. That's why we sat in the mezzanine and our friends sat in the orchestra.

The distance was nothing. Being in the front row of the mezzanine meant we had the clearest view of Bret and Jemaine I think I'll ever have in this lifetime. I took fuzzy pictures and grainy videos. Just to prove to myself I was actually there. That they were really that close. Not exactly tangible-close, but good enough. I was enthralled. They were right there! Live! Singing! Joking! So clear and life-like! After playing an impromptu bit of the show's theme song, Jemaine cracked about how that reminds us of watching TV and how much more reliable that is. Sure the show's reliable, but I don't want reliable. I want awkward, funny, off-the-cuff nuttiness.

Obviously, this was my first concert. I was thrilled. I'm still over the moon about it. How many times does a favorite band come to Tampa? And is affordable? This was the Conchords' first trip to Tampa and first stop on the tour. My friends were annoyed by the fans shouting suggestions and noticed some fluidity issues in the set list and banter, but I was so rosy nothing was wrong. The entire evening is shrouded in lovely, hazy memory film. There was a lot of hollering and clapping and wretched singing, but I could not have been happier with the experience.

The highlights of my evening had to be the new not-Satan song and "Carol Brown". Definitely one of my favorite songs ever. I just love the Paul Simon callback. I had to explain it to my friends and play "50 Ways" for them. sigh Kids these days... The not-Satan song was just purely amusing. I was very impressed with the accents and storytelling; I can't wait for that to be polished. Most interesting was the slowed and stripped down "Sugalumps". I loved that a lot. As for what I wished to hear but figured would be a longshot going in: "Petrov, Yelyena, and I". There's something addictive about that song. I just can't get enough of it...kind of like the Conchords.