Flight Of The Conchords at Northrop Auditorium
By the time the Northrop lights dimmed long after the Flight Of The Conchords show’s scheduled start time, the audience had earned a good performance. After standing in long, poorly organized lines, the audience had to evacuate the theater when the building's fire alarm—sounding like the alarm for a 1993 Audi—went off due to some malfunction. Five minutes later, we were all herded back in.
This inconvenience brought out some classic Midwestern rage (“They need to speed it up a little bit,” a man behind Decider quietly fumed). And also some New Zealand irony: “Tonight’s performance,” boomed Bret McKenzie's voice over the PA after the alarm was finally quelled, “is brought to you by the Minnesota Fire Department.”
He then introduced opener Eugene Mirman. “Just so everyone knows, that was a false alarm. Thank you for staying and not burning to death,” said Mirman, a New York standup and a minor player on the Conchords' TV show. He put the annoyed audience at ease with extremely funny stories of airline malfeasance and book tours.
Afterward, McKenzie and Jemaine Clement came onstage sporting robot costumes to thunderous applause. McKenzie dryly intoned, “We’re just gonna drop some jams on you” before opening their set with “Too Many Dicks on the Dance Floor.”
The duo’s performance, just like its TV show and records, was a glorious exercise in deadpan absurdity. They played favorite after favorite, from the first episode’s “The Most Beautiful Girl (In The Room)” to the new “Bus Driver's Song.” There were extended fade-outs (“just like on professional recordings,” crooned Clement) and sexy vamps (“Take off those maybe-orange, maybe-brown track pants.”). Both men showed off their ample sugalumps, and intricate stage lighting was used to demonstrate the color of Albi The Racist Dragon’s tears. Put succinctly, there was serious ridiculousness.
Between songs, McKenzie and Clement provided entertaining banter, from demonstrating how to deal with a heckler (“What was that, madame? It was actually a guy, and I called him a lady”) to introducing cellist Nigel, sole member of the debt-saddled New Zealand Symphony Orchestra.
Given the silliness of Flight Of The Conchords, it's easy to forget that both men are accomplished musicians. They sounded as tight as any good band, strumming in time, trading arpeggios, and switching up instruments (Clement on guitar and synthesizer, and McKenzie on guitar, drums, and keyboards). The best moments happened when the duo was at its most relaxed, such as “Jenny,” which featured a hilariously awkward conversation complemented with impressive guitar playing.
The Conchords ended their set with “Sugalumps,” which was followed by a lengthy standing ovation. They came back for a serviceable rendition of “Demon Woman,” but it was the ovation itself that provided a perfect close: a sold-out crowd imitating the rising "whoooooo-oooop" of that pesky alarm.
Setlist:
1. "Too Many Dicks On The Dance Floor"
2. "Hurt Feelings"
3. "The Ballad of Stana"
4. "The Most Beautiful Girl (In The Room)"
5. "Jenny"
6. "Business Time"
7. "Mutha’uckas"
8. "Crying"
9. "Bus Driver's Song"
10. "Think About It"
11. "Carol Brown"
12. "Albi The Racist Dragon"
13. "We’re Both In Love With A Sexy Lady"
14. "Sugalumps"
15. "Demon Woman"
