A Coulton audience
Jul. 25th, 2010 01:01 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alexxkay(quotes approximate)
Kes and I went to the Jonathan Coulton concert Friday night. He had a reasonable facsimile of an *actual rock band*, with himself on electric guitar, Chris Anderson on electric bass and harmony, and Marty Beller (of They Might Be Giants) on drums. Anderson was sort-of similar to JoCo in his general laconic-ness, but Beller was grinning like the Joker, and playing as if it was his goal to spontaneously combust.
Coulton started out with a few songs on solo acoustic. When he picked up the electric guitar, he encouraged the audience to boo him like what happened when Bob Dylan first went electric. The audience did so, very enthusiastically. Some also hissed, which impressed him.
Even though Paul & Storm weren't physically present, I felt they were there spiritually, and some portions of the audience continued to hiss before *every* *song*. JoCo would occasionally have to stop and crack up a little. "At least you're not saying 'Aaaarrr'" Which, of course, prompted a few 'Aaaaarrrs' from the regulars.
At a later hissing point, JoCo broke up again. "You can always tell a Coulton audience. You guys take a gag and... *run* with it. It's like a, a... memetic biosphere in here." Big audience laugh. "And you know what I mean when I say 'memetic biosphere'!" Huge round of applause!
The show itself was quite good. Perhaps a bit heavy on the depressing songs, but many of them turn out much more upbeat when there's a manic drummer in the mix. Of the new material, our favorite was "Nemeses".
Kes and I went to the Jonathan Coulton concert Friday night. He had a reasonable facsimile of an *actual rock band*, with himself on electric guitar, Chris Anderson on electric bass and harmony, and Marty Beller (of They Might Be Giants) on drums. Anderson was sort-of similar to JoCo in his general laconic-ness, but Beller was grinning like the Joker, and playing as if it was his goal to spontaneously combust.
Coulton started out with a few songs on solo acoustic. When he picked up the electric guitar, he encouraged the audience to boo him like what happened when Bob Dylan first went electric. The audience did so, very enthusiastically. Some also hissed, which impressed him.
Even though Paul & Storm weren't physically present, I felt they were there spiritually, and some portions of the audience continued to hiss before *every* *song*. JoCo would occasionally have to stop and crack up a little. "At least you're not saying 'Aaaarrr'" Which, of course, prompted a few 'Aaaaarrrs' from the regulars.
At a later hissing point, JoCo broke up again. "You can always tell a Coulton audience. You guys take a gag and... *run* with it. It's like a, a... memetic biosphere in here." Big audience laugh. "And you know what I mean when I say 'memetic biosphere'!" Huge round of applause!
The show itself was quite good. Perhaps a bit heavy on the depressing songs, but many of them turn out much more upbeat when there's a manic drummer in the mix. Of the new material, our favorite was "Nemeses".