Troubadour, LA - 4/22/2009

by Pete Weiss

I'm admittedly a late bloomer when it comes to concertgoing; except for family-sanctioned, childhood trips to see MC Hammer and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Live!), I didn't really start going to shows on a regular basis until my early twenties. I'm almost 30 now, and the novelty has yet to wear off. There's almost nothing I enjoy more than celebrating music I like with a roomful of strangers who like it, too.

That said, I am still almost 30, and I can only tolerate so many displays of youthful douchebaggery. Example: at a Ween show last year, someone from about 25 feet in front of me tossed a broken glowstick over their shoulder, which landed at my feet and covered my shoes in glow goo. It's hard to feel angry while listening to a song called "Poop Ship Destroyer", but nevertheless...

I brought this mix of optimism and trepidation to Dan Deacon's Los Angeles stop at the Troubador. I've seen Deacon twice; the first was shortly after the release of his breakthrough album Spiderman of the Rings, at the Detroit D.I.Y/loft/warehouse/whatever venue Scrummage University. The crowd at that show was exultant, and they were some of the nicest little partiers I've ever had the pleasure of dancing with. Nobody fucked with anybody, and everybody had a good time. The crowd was good-sized but not too big, and there was the sort of excitement in the air you feel when you're seeing an artist who's right on the verge of becoming HUGE. Deacon's return to the same venue six months later proved that we were right--there were possibly 3x as many people crammed into that little room, and some of them acted like rejects from a VH1 mimbo show. These were hipsters by way of Fred Durst; 20-ish "bros" moshing while on god-knows-what-lame-amphetamine, ensuring that few would leave without bruises.

I wish I could say that the crowd at the Troubadour was free of that kind of bullshit, but 10 seconds into the first song ("Of The Mountains", one of the many big, sprawling, epic tracks off of his recent release, Bromst), I felt myself being moved several feet every which way against my will. My companions wisely headed for the balcony. Once the song was over Deacon pleaded with the crowd to behave, to little avail. Deacon performs his vocals and electronic diddly-doo's from below the stage, directly in the crowd, and they were seriously endangering his slapdash, almost-a-fire-hazard-already setup. Still, people had to be dicks, which I guess proves the adage that those who can't do, destroy.

Deacon's currently touring with a 12 (or was it 13?) member ensemble, presumably to flesh out and add gravity to the great big songs from Bromst. This is very exciting in theory--"How many percussionists!?"--but at the Troubadour the other night, it was simply a distraction. The mix was muddy, and the lovely subtleties of the Bromst tracks were reduced to a big mess, making many songs virtually indistinguishable from one another. Which is a shame, because the new stuff is so good and so well produced, with every listen revealing new depths and layers. A quick youtube search for "dan deacon ensemble" brings up plenty of clips that sound great, so the evening's sound mishaps were probably a fleeting, forgivable mistake.

With that in mind, I threw my criticisms to the wind--or to the Ghostbusters t-shirt-wearing guy next to me--and went about celebrating the music.

Watch my happy dance at 4:16-4:19. It was nice to have a little breathing room. That was all over by 4:55, when it looks like the cameraman is having a seizure.

I found a nice little pocket of happy revelers and danced until I sweated through my clothes and sang along until my voice was hoarse, which is really what these shows are about. So, if you're a fan of the man's music, you should go. Just bring comfortable shoes, a bottle of water, and a tazer.

Dan Deacon will be touring throughout North America and Europe until the end of 2009. Check out his tour schedule here.

Here's a clip from the current tour: