Celebration!

September 8, 2011 - Toad's Place - New Haven, CT

It's official. My travel experiences getting to shows this year are cursed. We left in time to get to Toad's at 4:00 and then got stuck in traffic for and hour and forty five minutes on the Mass Pike because the westbound lanes were shut down due to a traffic accident. Just my luck. Then we couldn't find the parking lot we were trying to park in and circled blocks for 15 minutes before Kathy finally guided us in.

But we arrived at Toad's to hear the band soundchecking through the walls and one of the first things they played was Celebration! Win! Traffic forgotten. Let the tour begin!

We waited in line for a couple of hours right next to the tour bus and JoCo's snazzy black Econoline van. Got to see Linnell make a casual but quick dash from the venue to the bus in a nice striped hoodie. He got a hair cut but it's not terrible and is actually doing this really cute, curly flip thing in the front.

Also saw Dan, who seemed to be in very high spirits, and Marty, who also got a haircut which does not look as cute as Linnell's. Disappointing.

Flans tweeted about their awesome pop out tour bus and we were actually standing right next to the pop out portion. Someone's arm in a plaid shirt was visible through the window but that's the only bus activity we witnessed. The bus is now pulling a trailor instead of having the semi follow it around, which I am sure is more cost effective but makes for one very large vehicle.

Doors opened pretty promptly at 8:00 which was a blessing since it was getting chilly and the guy behind us was getting annoying. We had our pick of stage positions and selected pretty much the same one we were in at The Stone Pony. Slightly to the left, between the keyboard and the drums. Of course the keyboard wasn't in position yet because all of JoCo's band equipment was set up center stage. Someone had left a menu for Modern's Pizza lying on the front of the stage with a blue fine point Sharpie. There were some order notes on it but no one ever came looking for it, even through Flans said on Facebook later that they had gotten food from there.

I forgot to pay much attention to the pre-show mix which did not sound familiar until the theme from the A-Team started playing. Turns out that's Jonathan Coulton's intro music as he soon popped up on stage, solo with his Zendrum. He introduced himself and the Zendrum and said its sole purpose was to play Mr. Fancy Pants. It was a lovely redition though he messed up the rhythm at the end a little bit.

He was joined on stage by his band, which tonight consisted of Christian Cassan, the drummer we saw with him on the NY harbor cruise a few weeks back, and Adam Bernstein, who also plays bass with Laurie Berkner's band. Both guys are friends with and have worked with Marty, so I assume he contected them up with JoCo. Word is that in Ithaca, Adam will be replaced with MC Frontalot's bass player for the remainder of the first leg.

The band started out with Code Monkey. Then Jonathan said there was a new album. But then he clarified that there were many new albums but this one happened to be his. And they did Sticking It To Myself off said new album. Followed by Shop Vac, which he said was about suburbia and vacuum cleaners.

He mentioned the album again and that it was called Artificial Heart and the next song was the title track and was called Artifical Heart. Obvious, but the delivery was funny. He checked his time, he said, because he didn't want to anger Flansburgh by going over.

They played Good Morning Tuscon, then JoCo instructed the band to skip the next song on the list, which was Alone At Home (I could see Adam's setlist) because they were running short on time. Instead they went straight into Still Alive, which was still a giant sing-a-long even in a crowd of folks not necessarily there to see JoCo.

Jonathan announced that the next song would be the last as when people "awwww"d he pointed out that we still have TMBG to look forward to and he was at least 10 times more excited about that than us. He thanked them for letting him tag along on tour and thanked us for making him feel so welcome. He said the next song was about how we make him feel and they closed with I Feel Fantastic.

JoCo came back on stage with Christian a few minutes later to get his stuff and people cheered. He was gesturing at them to be quiet and that he wasn't really there and then got in a funny mock argument with someone in the crowd that I couldn't really hear but which looked pretty funny.

The techs came out to set up the stage for TMBG. Lots of new faces. Victor is still with them and David, the lighting guy we talked to in Asbury. There were new guys on sound and monitors, though I recognized one of them from at least one other show. That particular guy was wearing a T-shirt that said John Henry's on it and I wondered if that was a deliberate move or just coincidence.

There was a pile of setlists on the side of the drum riser for the whole JoCo set so I could see some of what was to be played in advance but not a ton cause it was hard to read. When they put the keyboard in place we noticed you could see the top of it and later, the setlist, in one of the lighting mirrors on the ceiling. Not clear enough to read but still fun.

Gary went to the bathroom before the show and was nearly run over by Scott on some highly important mission. I only saw him one other time, consulting with the techs on stage. Someone else laid out all of the (unattractive, brown) towels.

The Avatar suitcase was open on the side of the stage and Blue Avatar could be seen staring at me with just one eye and his hat visible.

TMBG hit the stage to a new intro. It says "Sneaking" on the setlist. I'll have to listen a couple more times to tell what it is. The first thing I noticed was that Linnell was wearing a polo shirt which really threw me off. It was a striped polo shirt, but still. Then I noticed that Marty was wearing the same shirt he'd had on in the drum battle video from the PAX weekend (which I realized tonight says Super Computer). Then I looked at Flans and did a double table trying to figure out what he was wearing. It was a blue and white checked seersucked suit jacket over a white button up. In fact one of the first things he said was commenting on the boldness of his clothing choice, wearing seersucker after Labor Day and so perilously close to Yale. He introduced Marty as the featured performer on the first song and they kicked it off with Puppet Head.

Sound quality at this show was a consistent problem. All the boys were communicating messages back and forth with the guy on monitors trying to get this raised and that lowered and everything balanced in general. It was a good 10 minutes into the show before I saw Danny crack a smile cause he was having trouble getting the bass to sound right. As it was, they never did get the mix very even. The keyboard and Linnell's vocals were often drowned out by the band and the whole show was just loud in general. Louder than usual. It wasn't bad enough to really detract from my enjoyment of the show but it was definitely noticible.

They broke out one of my favorites, When Will You Die, second song in, getting the show off on an excellent foot.The mix was still a bit iffy for this one but it's such a great song anyway. I think it's funny how they perform it with a lot of the solos slowed back down to original speed but Marty has the task of trying to at least partially match the frenetic pace of the recorded version to match the vocals. The rest of the guys kind of sail through and Marty's working his butt of at the kit. It's an intersting arrangement.

Your Racist Friend followed and was missing Curt's killer trumpet solo in the bridge but was otherwise enjoyable. Danny headed off the side of the stage trying to get something fixed after the song, which was funny because he presumably fixed it only to come back and have to put his bass down for Cloisonne. Flans said the next song featured Danny on keyboard and we all cheered and Danny gave a little bow. Then Flans had us start chanting "Danny, Danny" and Danny tried to wave us off looking embarassed. Linnell did a lot of the bass clarinet playing right in front of me so I got a couple of cool pictures. Flans almost forgot to have his guitar for the song. He had put it down and one of the guys had to remind him he needed it.

Somewhere in the early section of the show, possibly right here, Flans took his red JazzMaster off the side of the stage to Victor for service. He didn't have it for a song then went to get his Telecaster from Victor. But there was this really amusing run around where Victor brought it around the back of the drums while Flans went around the front, then they swapped before finally connecting up with it.

They wizzed through The Mesopotamians, followed by Ana Ng, which the newer, very techno intro they've been doing for it lately. This was the first point that I noticed that there was large scale video projection going on on the white screen the covered the whole back of the stage. It's possible it had started earlier and I didn't notice because I was watching the guys but for Ana Ng the screen filled with so abstract shapes and patterns in grayscale. And on We Live In A Dump, the following song, there were pictures of little metal astronaut toys. Danny seemed rather intrigued by these so I think maybe the band hadn't yet seen Flans' image selections either.

I can't match a lot of the images to specific songs in my memory, but I know other pictures included a bronze statue of a man holding smaller white gnomish man, a stuffed sheep and some mannequins drinking soda. The former two were part of a sequence that may have been during Never Knew Love, if we are remembering correctly. The later was used mostly between songs. Celebration used a picture of some yellow tape with writing on it floating in the water. There was some repeat use of images on multiple songs. All the pictures look like the sort of public domain stuff Flans has been using to make his iMovie videos. They were kind of strange and mysterious and wonderful all at the same time.

The lights went out for Whisting in the Dark. I couldn't see Flans over at the drum at all but Gary said he had some difficulty with the camera on top falling off part way through the song. He caught it and was trying to hold it up from his seat but couldn't manage to play at the same time. Victor had to run over and rescue him and help get the camera resituated for the Avatars who were on next.

Instead of playing Free Ride, as was marked on the setlist, to intro the Avatars the boys busted into a fantastic cover of the intro to Ozzy Osborne's Crazy Train (yes, I did have to look up the name of the song later. I recognied it, but not the title.) I wasn't sure if this was planned in advance but Flans mentioned on Twitter that they had been reviewing the song before the show so I guess it was. The boys seemed to be having a really good time with it, Dan in particular. They all looked pretty pleased with themselves.

Blue Avatar announced that Green Avatar had just received a degree from the University of Phoenix online and was now licensed to practice medicine in Florida and the Bahamas. Sorry to say I don't remember any of the other banter that preceeded the song because I got totally distracted by what was going on at the drum kit on the other side of the stage.

Marty, after Crazy Train, had beckoned for the sound guy to come help him. He then unscrewed the top cymbal from his hi-hat and removed it from the stand. In this process the top clip fell and the sound guy had to go fishing for it among all the stands and chords at the bottom of the drum kit. When it was found, Marty handed the guy the cymbal indicating he wanted him to do something with the washer screwed to the underside. The sound guy looked completely at a loss and I think Marty told him to get Victor to help him. Which the guy tried to do but Victor was busy on the other side of the stage making sure the camera didn't fall off the drum. Eventually the sound guy had to go back to Marty and say he just didn't know how to do what he wanted him to do. So Marty took the cymbal back and did it himself, unscrewing and tightening something, then screwing the whole thing back together again. There must have been some extensive Avatar banter going on during this time because it took several minutes and I remember being amazed that he had it all back together by the time the song started.

The only other thing I remember the Avatars saying was that they had learned this song off the new album because TMBG was too lazy to. I'm pretty sure Linnell missed his first line of Spoiler Alert causing Flans to start the song. It sounded odd. I spent a lot of the song trying to accurately get a picture of Green Avatar on the screen looking like he was trying to eat Danny in front of the screen. There was also some doubling going on with Blue Avatar as the screen was visible in the camera off to Green's left, occasionally making it look like there were three Avatars.

The follow-up song was Shoehorn With Teeth, for which Marty pulled out a single service bell and held it in his palm under the mic over the hi-hat. Then proceeded to provided the three dings with great flare and gusto. I attempted to get a picture but it was too dark as there weren't any lights on him.

The traditional Free Ride returned to play out the Avatars. Blue remained behind to do scream at us briefly, leaving Linnell to intro the next section of the show. He said they had a new album and had learned all these new songs including the next one that had an intro that he could play for as long as he wanted. "Until I start singing it's still the intro." Flans had joined him by that point and while they played the intro to Never Knew Love they discussed the next night's show in Great Barrington. One of them asked if Arlo Guthrie was going to be there talking on the side of the stage while they played. Linnell asked if "that guy from The Byrds" was going to be there too. He kept playing the intro. He looked over at Marty who tossed in a little drum flourish with the brushes. He kepted playing the intro. Danny tossed in a single twanging bass note. He kept playing the intro. Then finally he started the song. Hehe.

Marty set up for the next song by putting a tambourine on his hi-hat and started up the electronic beat for Old Pine Box on his drum pad. Flans looked at him weird and he stopped it and thought he had started the wrong song and started removing the tambourine. Flans was like, "no, that was right" and Marty put it back and started the beat again all confused. Flans counted off the song up to eight out loud then off into the song. No sneezing this time.

They segued straight into Birdhouse, a very lively performance, especially from Flans and Danny, who was singing along with the "who watches over you"s at the back of the stage. Then they dimmed the lights again for Withered Hope. The mix was still a bit off so the keyboard riff was hard to hear but the overly loud bass was a benefit in this case as it magnified Danny's two totally awesome bass solos. He did the first one from the narrow strip of the stage in front of the drum riser and it was so epic, I think I audibly gasped when he finished.

Flans announced that it was time for Battle For The Planet Of The Apes. He said they would be dividing the audience in half exactly where Linnell was standing. Everyone on our side was to be the people. Everyone on the other side was to be the apes. He had us practice but cut us off and told us to save our energy. This did not go off smoothly at The Stone Pony because Flans did not explain what people were supposed to do very well. Well, he explained it even more poorly here, but oddly, more people seemed to figure it out. Flans basically said the people were with the band and then started the song with no further explanation. The first transition was a little rough as the "apes" didn't know they were supposed to come in but Flans demonstrated and everyone more or less got it eventually. The people were declared the winners as usual, but the apes were displeased. They began shouting "apes, apes, apes" on their own so of course the people had to respond. Linnell made a joke about it being Rise of the Planet of the Apes. Flans said he was going to organize spontaneous chicken fights next. Linnell pointed out that they would not be spontaneous if he organized them.

I seem to recall Flans making some sort of comment about Drink! having an exclamation mark at the end of the song when he was introducing it, but I could be hallucinating. He didn't give any chanting instructions. There were a smattering of "drink, drinks" and particularly towards the end a number of people chanting "no, wait."

They surprised me pleasantly by playing Sapphire Bullets. That is one of my favorite Flood songs and one I was fairly certain I wouldn't hear again once they stopped doing Flood shows.

Then, the moment I had been waiting for, Marty started up the beat for Celebration. I don't think I have ever been so excited to hear a song ever. They left off the intro when they played it, but it was AMAZING. Linnell was singing along with the "singing" keyboard part which was awesome because it meant I could too (which I always do when listening in me car). And everyone was yelling "Celebration" in the chorus and I was probably bopping around like a looney. It was just so much fun. And Marty's drum fill at the end was just beautiful. Oh man.

After the song Flans said that that was the first time they had performed the song and he wasn't used to it yet. He said that there is a section at the end where Marty does a tribute to Phil Collins and Flans had screwed it up by playing a power chord over it. Marty shook him off indicating it had sounded great but Flans asked Marty if he would please play to drum fill so we could hear it properly. And he did. And everyone cheered so much he played another different Phil Collins rhythm. And people were still chanting to hear it again but they moved on.

Flans introduced Dan on the keyboard and he and Linnell started Alphabet of Nations. They did the bit of intro where they make "chimp playing a theremin" noises and the crowd started chanting "apes, apes, apes" again which really amused them. Flans continued to get the chanted going again multiple times through out the rest of the show. Dan flubbed the beginning of Alphabet but I bet no one noticed because Flans was walking around and dancing in a really ridiculous fashion.

I think it was at this point that Flans announced that they had a new album out called The Else and the next song wasn't on it. I know that was before one of the Join Us songs. Not sure if he was just being silly or if he messed up what was next on the setlist. I remember looking at Marty afterward and noting that he was laughing and shaking his head at Flans.

What definitely did happen before the next song was that Dan forgot he was supposed to stay at the keyboard and had gone back to get his guitar. Linnell had to point out to him that he needed to stay at the keys and he went back looking sheepish. The next song turned out to be You Probably Get That A Lot.

Flans said the next song was a quiet song and then he laughed because someone in the audience shouted "No!" He was very amused by this and teased the lady. He said that they needed to play the quiet song so they could follow it with the super loud song. They started playing Careful What You Pack and the lady kept repeatedly shouting "louder" at the beginning. It was a little annoying and also funny and Flans messed up his intro. Then he was pointing at her and going "You! You made me do that!" They put a new arrangement on this song, without some of the sound effects they used to use but it sounded really good.

Another thing I forgot to mention earlier. There was a guy who kept repeatedly screaming for Brain Problem Situation. Flans made a joke about it being distracted to Linnell at one point. The guy stopped eventually but it was irritating for a while.

Flans did a quick band intro, I think maybe before CWYP, but did a full one after it. It wasn't set to Graveyard, but rather an entirely new beat. I didn't recognize it so I don't know if he was a cover of something or just a pre-determined beat. I don't remember clearly but it's possible it might have been the new intro Marty put together at Mohegan last year.

Dan seemed to miss the fact that Flans wanted him take a solo and when Flans told him to do so he played one single note. It was pretty funny. Flans had us do the "Danny, Danny" chant again, then we did some proper screaming for Marty. Marty attempted to actually wreck his kit by stomping on one of the toms with his foot which really amused the Johns. Linnell said something really funny about Marty's unconventional method but I've completely forgotten what it was.

I thought we were going to escape without Clap Your Hands but that wasn't the case as it was the "loud" song that followed Careful What You Pack (well, after the band intros). And we clapped right into the beginning of Judy Is Your Viet Nam. I don't think I will ever get tired of watching Marty drum this song. The may be the first time I have ever seen Marty look genuinely winded after a song. Serious power drumming.

Flans thanked everyone for coming and the crew and the band. He thanked Jonathan Coulton for opening, at which point Marty could be seen in the background leaning back on his stool with a foot in the air and silently cheering "woooooo" with his mouth wide open. I cracked up so hard I lost my balance and had to grab Gary to avoid falling over and when I looked back up Linnell was laughing at me.

They closed the set with Can't Keep Johnny Down which I think works really well as a closer. I kind of hope they keep it that way.

They took an unusually long encore break then came back without Dan and did Don't Let's Start. Flans was doing some enthusiastic guitar playing but not as crazy as Brooklyn. Dan returned for Particle Man but this was the most unusal Particle Man I've ever seen in that it was completely normal.It actually sounded mostly like the album with no weird bridge at all. Surprising. Then Damn Good Times where Marty spent half the solo at the end trying to get the sound guy to fix something on the sound on Dan's guitar.

They took another break and this time just Flans, Linnell and Marty returned. Linnell picked up the bass clarinet again and Flans picked up a stylophone attached to some sort of box. And they proceeded to do Lie Still, Little Bottle with the clarinet in place of The Stick and with the addition of drums and stylophone. It was a great arrangement.

Then the Dans returned to the stage and they did some more Free Ride to bring the Avatars back. But the camera fell off the drum again and was displaying a lopsided image of the crowd. Flans was saying "This thing is so broken" and then cried, "Victor, come save me!" Victor ran across the back of the stage and I think he may have actually been holding up the camera for the whole of the next bit. The Avatars did their first performance of Three Might Be Duende, but whether because of lack of light, or the broken camera or not having a cheat sheet, they messed up a lot of the lyrics. "Forged by his charm" and "Three might be duende's alarm" were favorite mis-quotes.

I can't remember if it was after this Avatar segment or the other one when Flans said that because the Green Avatar had a degree now they had been refusing to come on tour but they just shut the lid on the suitcase and that was the end of that conversation.

The boys played some more of Crazy Train after the Avatars. Someone in the audience was screaming for Istanbul but Linnell said they needed to stick to the setlist. Dan left the stage again and I almost swear Marty blew him a kiss on his way out. They closed with Dead which is an odd choice for a closer. During the song I noticed Dan walked across the room and out the door, presumably to the bus. I leaned over to tell Gary that I hoped they didn't need him anymore because he had just left. They finished the song and Linnell was moving to pick up the clarinet and leave when Flans leaned over to suggest that they play Istanbul. Linnell said something about them caving to pressure and Flans said that not caving for the last 29 years hadn't worked for them so they would try doing it for the next 29 years. But Danny had realized that Dan was missing. Flans yelled "Paging Mr. Dan Miller" into the mic but they were all clueless to the fact that he had left the building. Eventually Flans suggested that Linnell just play the intro and Dan could join them later. And Linnell had just started riffing an intro when Dan walked on stage, presumably having been fetched by one of the crew. So he got to do his intro after all, and it was an especially good one. He really dragged out the super fast part. And then when it got to the fake ending, Flans really dragged out the part that sounded like the real ending so that Linnell was watching Marty and Marty was watching Flans and it was all pretty amusing. And then when they did the fake ending Flans went insane hopping around like crazy. It was a much better way to end the show than Dead.

I easily got my setlist from Victor and helped one of the girls next to me reach the drum stick Marty slid across the stage at her. Marty waved at me as he wandered around talking to the techs afterward. And we headed off to Kathy's house to celebrate a successful start to the tour.

I know I've forgotten a bunch of stuff and I'll only forget more as the tour progresses and I have less time for write-ups. I'll rely on the eyes and ears on my friends to fill in the blanks.

Pictures will be coming either tomorrow or Monday. Stay tuned. 45 minutes until the Great Barrington show kicks off! Already saw Danny and Marty out on the sidewalk (from a distance). Rock on!