I'm not going to do a full write up on these shows, because really this is a TMBG blog not a Jonathan Coulton blog, and also all of both shows are up on YouTube so you could just watch them yourself if you are interested. But I will say that the shows were FANTASTIC! Jonathan did a few songs acoustic before bringing out the band and the electric guitar. They played a nice mix of new stuff and old stuff. I enjoyed all the new songs and managed to ear worm myself with the one about mustaches all day yesterday. The banter was hilarious, especially in Northampton on Thursday when Jonathan was still getting used to his guitar and the new material and making some entertaining mistakes.
The audience in Somerville on Friday looked like pretty much the largest geek gathering since PAX East in March and in fact I think they were largely the same people. Jonathan had us all boo when he picked up the electric guitar just to see what it would sound like and a few people hissed. He decided the hissing was the worst so of course people hissed at him the whole rest of the night. He said one of the things he appreciated most about the Jonathan Coulton audience was their talent for taking a joke and running with it. Which immediately resulted in numerous people in the audience yelling either "Arrrrrrr" or "Awwwww" in a direct carry over from the PAX concert.
The band sounded fantastic, particularly on the new arrangements of old stuff like Creepy Doll and Mandelbrot Set. Marty was terrific as usual and exhibiting some classic Marty drumming faces. I really like Chris Anderson a lot. He provided some nice harmonies on a few songs and he's a pretty kick-ass bass player (though not my favorite mind you, that role has already been filled ;-). And despite some tuning issues and a few slip ups Jonathan rocked the electric guitar.
Thursday's show provided some celebrity audience watching. I knew John Hodgman was going to be there because he Twittered about it. He was easy to spot mingling in the main floor crowd. He posed for some pictures with fans but we didn't bug him. Just before the show started Flansburgh came in with Jamie Kitman and another friend. It seemed that the club had neglected to save them seats and they ended up watching the whole show standing by the stairs. I suspect that I was actually sitting in the seat meant for Flans, or at least the one marked with his picture.
(Psst, that was a joke.) Given the number of TMBG T-shirts I saw in the audience I was impressed that Flans managed to stay relatively incognito.
I went to visit the restrooms in the basement before the show (which were very small and in an odd location) and ended up getting serenaded through the open green room door while waiting in line. I originally thought it was Marty singing but after hearing the show I think it was actually Chris Anderson, possibly with Marty singing along. Hard to say since I couldn't see them. They were singing an Indigo Girls song though.
After the show I was back downstairs using the facilities again and ended up standing at the bottom of the stairs waiting for the boyfriend as Marty came out of the green room to say bye to Flans. He met my eye and smiled at me and I waved a little. Then he walked right over and started talking to me. I was so tongue tied I'm afraid I wasn't very eloquent but we had a nice brief chat. I can only imagine what it looked like to the boyfriend to come back from the bathroom to find me chatting with Marty Beller.
So lots of fun was had at both shows.Here are a few videos I took of four of the six new songs, the first two from Northampton and the second two from Somerville. Enjoy!
The Stache
Today With Your Wife
Nemeses
Sticking It To Myself
Posts
Haha, this made me laugh:
ReplyDelete"I can only imagine what it looked like to the boyfriend to come back from the bathroom to find me chatting with Marty Beller."
XD
I love that he came over to talk to you, though. :)
Very entertaining write up as well! Glad you had a good time on such little sleep. :]