Tolerance And Telling People What To Do

September 11, 2011 - Upper Valley Events Center - Norwich, VT

What an unusual venue! I knew this show was outdoors but I thought it was actually outside in an amphitheater sort of thing. Nope. It was in a tent. Like, the sort of tent you have a wedding reception in. We showed up, after getting slightly lost in Norwich, and pulled into a tiny little parking lot to find the massive tour bus parked next to a big white tent. Well now, this is going to be interesting, says I.

The people running things were very nice and let us wander in super early as long as we didn't enter the tent until 6:30. So we sat on the lawn in front of the tent and watched Jonathan Coulton soundcheck. We also checked out these ridiculously high tech port-a-potties (which were RIGHT next to the bus). They were flushable with these levers you kind of had to pump. And there was a sink with a foot pedal that you pressed to make water come out. It was like combining a portable toilet with an airplane bathroom.

According to Kathy, right as she was pulling up Flans and Marty were getting into a car that was in the space I ended up parking in and drove away. Sorry I stole your space guys! But I guess it was actually Bill Childs space as we saw them come back with him later.

The stage was set up on one of the long sides of the tent and was barely a stage at all. It was a platform raised about six inches off the ground. And then the rest of the inside of the tent was covered with some sort of foam flooring. We decided this was going to be the most awkward show ever as we were going to be staring the guys right in the face. There was no barrier what so ever between the audience and the band. Bizarre.

Eventually, as it got closer to 6:30 we moved to a spot of grass a little closer to the tent so we could be ready to run in, because lots of people were now lining the lawn with picnic blankets set out and lawn chairs set up. There were folks with cutting boards out for a cheese spread. One family even brought a small table. And there were a LOT of families. Even smaller children than the show in Concord. Apparently the parents did not pay much attention to the 14+ with parental discretion warning that was on the venue website.

Because the bus was RIGHT next to the tent, there was a lot of band watching to be done before the show, though it mostly consisted of watching them walk back and forth in and out of the bus. As is typical, the only one we didn't see was Linnell.

At 6:30, Mike and Paul went straight into the tent but they were the only ones and we wanted to wait for some sort of official permission to enter. Eventually, the show organizer walked by and gestured for us to come on in. So for quite a while the only people actually in the tent by the stage were me, Gary, Kathy, Mike, Paul and one lone Jonathan Coulton fan in a "My nemesis is Jonathan Coulton" T-shirt. The event organizer guy wondered if he should make an announcement telling people they could come in if they wanted. Mike told him not to worry about it, Flans would take care of it.

We had to shift and shimmy out of the way a bit initially, as David kept needing to reach in and adjust the lights at our feet. I wanted to jokingly offer to hold one since it seemed like they really needed to be a bit higher off the ground to be effective. We had also noticed while we were sitting outside, that rather than set up a screen for the video projection, they were just projecting images onto the top of the tent which was both clever and absurd. There was just nothing about this venue that was not weird.

Just before JoCo's set, people finally realized they were allowed in the tent and we were suddenly flooded with bodies behind us. JoCo was just hanging out by the side of the stage for a few minutes while he waited for the organizer to make some announcements about sponsors and bathrooms and such. The entire thing had a very low key vibe.

Jonathan said he was inspired by their wooded setting to do a nice quiet love song and started with Skullcrusher Mountain. The rest of the set was the same as the night before. He commented that when they arrived they had had no preconception of the set-up and were very surprised to see a tent in a field. He made some jokes about Vermont not having any buildings.

Introducing Nemeses, Jonathan pointed out the guy in the "My nemesis is Jonathan Coulton" T-shirt in the front row and said that wasn't really a reassuring thing to see when staring out into an audience. The guy said that was what JoCo's website had told him when he purchased his Level 4 Artificial Heart bundle. Adam pointed out that the fact that the guy had a large camera was also especially threatening as they had no proof that it was actually a camera. It was all quite amusing.

Marty came out to watch the end half of JoCo's set and was just standing leaning on a trunk off to the side of the stage. I wonder if it's weird for him to watch someone else play all these drum parts he created?

Christian managed to knock over the legs on one of his toms at the end of one of the songs so that the whole thing started to topple. He got it back up surprisingly quickly but there was a brief scramble. I've also been noticing the very unusual grip he uses on his left drum stick. He holds it with his hand kind of upside down, sort of like you would hold it if you were going to pass it to someone. It doesn't look comfortable but it seems to work for him.

During the break between acts, our friend Emily joined us. It's really fun for me to get to see all my different band friends who are spread out across the country at all these different venues as we travel around. There are very few shows on this tour where I don't know at least one other person who is going.

From our absurdly close stage position we were practically on top of Dan's setlist from the moment we entered the tent so there were no surprises in what they played. They did change it up quite a bit for this show. It was funny because as we were driving home last night, I had said that I hoped they put The Guitar back in the set soon because I missed it and low and behold, it was the first thing on the list tonight.

The setlist was as follows: The Guitar - When Will You Die - Withered Hope - Your Racist Friend - Ana Ng - We Live In A Dump - Birdhouse In Your Soul - Clap Your Hands - Battle For The Planet Of The Apes - Cloisonné - Spoiler Alert - Celebration - Particle Man - Doctor Worm - You Probably Get That A Lot - Alphabet Of Nations - Careful What You Pack - Judy Is Your Viet Nam - Can't Keep Johnny Down - The Mesopotamians - Istanbul  Encore - Lie Still, Little Bottle - Fingertips - Dead  Encore 2 - Damn Good Times

For a couple minutes prior to the start of the show, the guys were all huddled in a group just outside the tent, just hanging out, waiting for the right moment. The lack of a back stage meant they were standing right next to some of the fans on that side of the tent and people were walking past them headed to the bathrooms. It must have been a little awkward for them. But I got to watch Marty and Dan fist bump which was cute.

There was no need to call people to the front for this show, because the audience was already practically on top of the stage, so they really just launched right into the first song as soon as they got settled. Linnell was still drinking his coffee while they were playing. He was playing chords on the keyboard with one hand, looking at Flans, and chugging coffee out of his cup. Way to be casual, Linnell.

Flans is still sticking with the same outfit. Can't really blame him tonight as it was chilly and the jacket was necessary. I wonder if he is gonna wear it all tour? Linnell had on the same striped hoodie I saw him in outside Toad's, over a white T-shirt with a black collar. It's a maroon hoodie with black or navy stripes. I quite liked it, but he took it off a few songs in. Marty went with his yellow bicycle tee (still waiting for him to wear one I haven't see before). Danny had his green jacket on over a blue and green plaid shirt, I've seen a number of times. And Dan had on what I think of as the classic Dan shirt: a tan button up that is inevitably what I picture him in when I am envisioning the "Dan look."

There was new video projection for When Will You Die, featuring lots of goofy imagery of hands holding strange weapons.

A few songs in, Flans said he had a few stage announcements. First he said if anyone other than the five guys on stage, stepped onto the stage the show would end immediately. Then he asked the people at the back of the crowd to take about six paces back, the people in the middle to take about three paces back and the people in the front to take a couple of steps back because they felt like the crowd was bottle necking into the front of the stage. Which was totally understandable as those of us in the front were literally pressed into the front edge of the stage. Flans said the theme for tonight's shows was "tolerance and telling people what to do." He told us to take that to heart.

This was a very little yip-yap show, with lots of transitions straight from one song to another. The show started at 8:00 and we were in the car heading home at 9:40 so they plowed through 25 songs.

Flans had brought a signed vinyl copy of Join Us to the stage with him. He picked it up at one point and started talking about how they were bringing back vinyl and that it was gatefold. Then he said this completely awkward sentence about understanding what that meant and said that it you didn't understand the code you were never going to. It was really odd but it made the guys on stage laugh. He didn't actually give the record away at that point, but he did pick it back up and hand it to a woman on the other side later on.

Flans finally managed to do a comprehensive explanation of how Battle for the Planet of the Apes was supposed to work to that the crowd was able to participate without much confusion. This was the first time I've been a ape as I've been standing on the other side of the stage for all the other performances (I went right tonight, because I haven't been able to get any pictures of Dan from the other side). Not sure how I feel about being on the loosing team.

I know there was a little bit of banter before Cloisonné but I can't remember what it was.

When they went to do the Avatars, they found that the puppets were missing. Flans had to tell John Carter who had to run across the stage to Victor, who had to open a trunk and pull out the suitcase and hand it to John, who then had to run back across the stage with it to hand it to the Johns, all while the band riffed endlessly on Crazy Train and Flans had us doing a lot of Sea of Hands.

The Avatars made some jokes about this being a really nice wedding reception (cause of the tent) and something about wishing the Giants were nicer guys but I can't remember why. Blue stuck his eye in the camera and stared at us with his 12' high puppet eye. Blue apologized for his remarks being random and said the entire thing was scripted but that he hadn't remembered to bring his glasses so he couldn't read the script. This really cracked up the band on the other side, particularly Dan. Something about the puppet needing glasses was especially amusing. Just before they started the song, John Carter brought Flans a flashlight so he could read the cheat sheet lyrics that were on the back of the drum. Linnell had also put on his glasses so that he could read the lyrics. For me the funniest part of watching the puppets do Spoiler Alert continues to be what they do at the end of the song after the lyrics finish. Tonight Green was marching back and forth in the background of the camera while Blue showed off his "It is our pleasure to serve you" hat.

After Celebration (still my favorite part of every show!), we entered an extended period of Linnell standing directly in front of us while Dan was at the keyboard. We got to songs of accordion action and two songs of vocals only, which was a nice change from the view of the side of Linnell's head I had for the rest of the show. But man, he was RIGHT in front of me. Not quite as intimidating as in Boston because he wasn't towering over me, but still.

At the end of Doctor Worm, Linnell was trying to get Marty's attention to get him to stop playing rather than transitioning straight into the next song so he could put down his accordion and he ended up having to scream "Marty!" really loudly. He then apologized to Marty for having to use his "outdoor voice." That is probably the loudest I will ever hear Linnell say anything ever. 

After Alphabet of Nations, some guy pushed in front of us with no shirt on, carrying his shirt and threw it on the stage for Flans, saying it was a gift and it was the Alphabet of Nations. It appeared to be a homemade shirt with all of the countries from the song on it. Flans did not look pleased at all and said he had another stage announcement: "No throwing dirty shirts on the stage." He kept mentioning biologicals that might be present on it. He said it might seem like a nice gift to you but really it was like when your cat brought you a dead mouse. Eventually he kicked the thing off towards the front of the stage.

Dan seemed to be having endless mic troubles during Careful What You Pack. I couldn't tell if he wanted the mic on or off but what ever it was he couldn't get it. I also spent a lot of this show watching him activate various pedals and things since his feet were right in front of mine. He was having issues with one of his pedal boards at one point too but clicking the buttons a whole bunch of times seemed to fix it.

Flans did a brief band intro before The Mesopotamians, but only included Marty and Danny. He introduced Marty, who banged on one of him drums about four times with one hand in dramatic fashion. Then he introduced Danny on bass and "stage security" and Danny imitated Marty's drum banging on his bass. It was pretty funny. I was wondering, based on the "stage security" comment and Flans' early warning not to step on the stage, if I had missed an incident on the other side of the stage at the start of the show where someone had tried getting on the stage, that Danny had dealt with. It is entirely possible as I couldn't really see down that end early on. Or maybe not. The only intro Dan got was, "This song features Dan Miller on electric guitar."

Dan did a particularly excellent Miller Time to kick off Istanbul, and there was a little girl who crept in between Gary and I to watch him who looked like she was in total awe. I kind of know how she feels.

I think the band made it all the way back to the bus between encores as it was parked so close to the tent. Victor kept having to clear fans out of the way of the side of the tent so they could enter and exit the stage.

Flans called Dan and Danny back to the stage at the end of Lie Still, which was amusing because they were already there standing behind him. I don't know if he realized that or not. Flans started thanking members of the crew, then there was an awkward pause. He told Linnell to introduce the next song. Linnell asked if they were done thanking people and said he thought they should have some more awkward silence. Flans thought again. Danny suggested Scott, who Flans had already said, but he thanked him again. Then he finally remembered David. He said he was so new that he hadn't gotten so spiteful about not being thanked yet that he would just turn off all their lights. Then he remembered Anna, their merch girl and said she had a fancy new credit card machine ready to take your friend's tapped out credit card. He also mentioned Jonathan Coulton's Good Morning Tuscon shirts that were for sale "until the lawyers realize that they are just the NBC logo."

Someone in the crowd yelled that they needed to thank JoCo. They did but Linnell joked that they weren't just going to thank everyone. "We aren't just going to thank the state of Arizona, randomly." Flans told his to be careful mentioning Arizona that there was probably some conflict between Vermont and Arizona because they were on opposite sides of the country. Linnell said he thought that it was New Hampshire that he wasn't supposed to mention. Then he took a survey of the crowd on whether Arizona or New Hampshire was worse. Most of the crowd yelled New Hampshire but he said,"Arizona? Interesting!" Flans said that he was really tempted to say "Michele Bachmann." Then he told Linnell again to introduce the song. He did, saying that it had a lot of little parts. And then they started to play, but Flans forgot he needed to be at the mic immediately, so the beginning of "Everything" was missing as he dashed across to the mic.

Flans did an excellent I'm Having A Heart Attack ad lib. Dan did some lovely Mysterious Whisper arm waving with his head tilted back. I didn't feel like the Darkened Corridors was quite as epic as it sometimes is, but it was still fun watching Dan and Marty time the final beats from opposite sides of the stage.

Dan left the stage for Dead, and for a while he just wandered over to the other side to chat with Victor and the other tech (the one remaining guy whose name we haven't figured out yet). Danny is really extending his singing along in the background without a mic thing. In addition to the "ba-ba-da-da-das" in We Live In A Dump and "who watches over you" in Birdhouse, tonight he added singing along with the beginning of Dead too.

They waited so long to come back for the second encore, I thought they weren't going to do it, but they did eventually reappear to do Damn Good Times. It was a little weird to have a second encore that just consisted of that one short song, but it's a good closer.

The setlists were so close to the audience tonight that a lot of them got snatched immediately. I let Mike have the one near us because I knew I could get one from Victor. But then I briefly worried that I had been wrong since most of the others were gone and it ended up being the other tech that was collecting the clipboards. But he gave us the last one I could see anyway, so my streak is still in tact.

So, a fast, short and very up close and personal show. Not sure Flans was in the super best mood, which might be why the show was so low on banter. But I think I got some great pictures.

Everybody gets an off day tonight and I finally get reunited with my computer so pictures will be up this afternoon. Then on to Ithaca tomorrow, and the site of the premiere performance of the Avatars of They two years ago. I wonder if they will remember that fact? We'll see.