Recap Daniel Johnston at Turner Hall

During Daniel Johnston’s ramshackle one-hour performance Friday night at Turner Hall, I was reminded of Woody Allen’s famous quote about how “80 percent of success is just showing up.” After a lifetime of bad acid trips and multiple mental-hospital stints, Johnston gets a pass just for making it to the gig, even if he’s not sure where that gig is. “What city is this again?” he asked at show’s end, clearly not joking. “What day is this?” That’s okay, Daniel. Criticizing you for a relatively minor mental gaffe is like needling a man who just climbed the world’s tallest mountain for wearing an off-brand of boots. We all know you’ve got bigger fish to fry, my friend.

While Johnston seems to have it together better now than, well, ever, inconsistency is still hard-wired into his musical DNA—just like his vast collection of emotionally raw homemade recordings comes across best in cherry-picked compilations, Friday’s show is perhaps best remembered for its isolated successes rather than its unfocused whole. The most memorable bits of the night came early during his short solo acoustic set, including a charming rendition of “Grievances” highlighted by the immortal line, “I’m looking for a nice girl, and I don’t want no cow.” Johnston’s guitar-playing doesn’t appear to have improved a lick in 20 years, so it was a welcome sight to see his friend Brett Hartenbach back him up on several songs, including a fun sing-along of The Beatles’ “You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away.”

Johnston usually plays with a pick-up band in every town, typically with little or no rehearsal. This time Riverwest indie-pop group The Candeliers were tasked with the thankless job of keeping up with the erratic singer-songwriter in the concert’s second half. Not surprisingly, they struggled mightily coming out of the gates. “Don’t Let The Sun Go Down On Your Grievances” limped into a shallow ditch and died a lonely death, but the band pulled it together for a tight “Mountain Top.” By the time Johnston and The Candeliers started in on “Casper The Friendly Ghost,” things seemed to finally gel. A group of hippies even materialized out of thin air and starting doing that goofy-ass flailing- arms dance in front of the stage. Incredibly, Johnston was being out-weirded at his own show. Too bad he’s probably already forgotten about it by now.