Flight of the Conchords in Concert

As some of you may know, I was afforded the opportunity to see Flight of the Conchords last night at the beautiful and historic Chicago Theatre. And as you may have guessed, it did not disappoint.

Even before FotC came on stage I was pleasantly surprised as the opening act was done by Arj Barker. Or for those of you familiar with the show, Dave. And let me tell you, Dave is a pretty solid comedian. He went on for roughly 30 minutes and there was never a dull moment. The highlight probably came when he was discussing how he often thinks at night about how deeply he's sleeping and how he'd give anything in the world to have a mini-him in the next room screaming and shitting everywhere. Obviously, it was delivered much better than I am describing it. And I can't vouch for this since I didn't stick around to chat him up, but I also found it pretty cool that he hung around in the lobby afterwards with anyone and everyone.

As soon as Arj was done, he immediately introduced FotC and they walked on stage. This gets major points from me as I'm used to waiting quite a while between the opening and feature act. Immediately, they broke into Robots (set list below) and it was just like we were watching the TV show, only live and without any of the other characters. Which of course meant that Murray was not prezent. And after a fan asked about this, Jemaine responded by informing us that he always has to remind at least one fan that Murray is a fictional character played by Rhys Darby. Another highlight was when a man yelled at them to "take of their pants." As you would imagine, this guy didn't come off as the brightest bulb in the box and Jemaine imitated his request several times while also providing his own guesses as to the fan's thought process. Good stuff. But as funny as all their meandering back and forth between songs was, as always, the songs are what carry these guys and they definitely did not disappoint.

In addition to playing most of their classics, they also played a few songs I had never heard before. I would imagine some or all of them will be featured during season two. As Sun-Times columnist, Jim Derogatis also notes, the funniest of them all was one in which Jemaine sang about his ex-girlfriends and Bret provided the chorus, but informed us that we had to picture him as a group of women. It's also worth mentioning that Bret's work on the keytar, especially during Mutha Uckas was phenomenal. There is very little I could have asked to be different from their set list, except I wish that it had included Boom and one of my favorites, Inner City Pressure. Bret, You've Got It Going On was also missing.

Overall, it was just a great show. And if they are coming anywhere near you, I highly recommend you attend. In addition to their sharp and clever wit, there is just something about the way words sound coming out of their Kiwi mouths that makes me laugh. I know that I can't wait to see them again.

New Zealand…Rocks!!!

Set List

Robots
The Most Beautiful Girl in the Room
Mutha Uckas
Never heard it – About Past Girlfriends
Think About It
Albi the Racist Dragon
Never heard it
Hiphopopotamus vs. the Rhymenocerous
I'm Not Crying
Pencils in the Wind
It's Business Time
Never heard
If You're Into It
Bowie
Encores:
New one called I Told You I was Freaky
Angels

Not Played…
Inner City Pressure
Boom
Bret, You've Got it Going On