Last Saturday's Dan Deacon/Future Islands/VideoHippos show was a real treat. VideoHippos played a fun, short set of tracks, their first set since 2010. The rain didnt keep anyone away, and by the time i got to the Ottobar (a couple songs into VideoHippos set) the place was already packed. I watched from the back, and moved towards the front while Future Islands set up.
Between sets, poetry was read. It was a benefit show for Ben O'Brien (a Wham City member, poet, video artist, and member of Nuclear Power Pants), who is sick, but I didnt catch what it actually was. While the poetry was read, hecklers were active. It was exceedingly disrespectful. It was so bad the poetry reader (i forget his name) and to stop and confront the women. They screamed "Why the F#c* is this happening?" Why is it happening? Because this is for Ben. This is to show support. Show some respect. Well, the idiots finally got their wish, as Future Islands took the stage.
This was the third time I saw Future Islands this year (and maybe the 6th time total). They sounded great (at Hopscotch the mix was horrible and almost everything was drowned out by a too-loud kickdrum) and continued their tradition from this year, playing new songs. If the crowd had been to the Metro Gallery show this year (an amazing 90 minute set) they would have known what to look forward to, new songs (also a lot of what they did at Hopscotch). Why new songs? Because they need to play these songs (currently being mixed in NYC for a new album) in front of live audiences. Some didn't have names, and all continued the Future Islands tradition of great music. They only played for around 45 minutes, and left the crowd wanting more (they did throw in a couple of old ones, which of course got the best crowd reactions, but all the old tunes were from In Evening Air (Long Flight, Tinman, and maybe one more) and none from their last, On the Water). The poet returned, but this time sans hecklers. It seemed the ladies (and about 20% of the crowd) were only there for Future Islands, and left before Dan Deacon got on the stage.
With a thinned out crowd, I grabbed one last IPA, and made my way to the stage. This was the first time I had seen Dan Deacon since Whartscape 2010 (RIP), and this was my first time seeing him solo (the Whartscape set was with the Dan Deacon Ensemble). Technically, it wasn't him solo, as he had dual drummers (including the VideoHippos drummer and someone else who I didn't recognize); one on either side of Dan's setup. And then the rocking started. I was glad a lot of people left, (though it was far from empty) as the energy immediately picked up, and the dancing started. Dan seemed to mostly be running tracks through a laptop (looked like he was using Live), with the drummers supplying the beat, and his twisted vocals courtesy of two different mics, of which he sometimes used both at once) running through various effects. The crowd was more than willing to go along with all of the activities. He split the crowd in the middle and sent out two dance leaders (Lizz King and someone else). Everyone hit the ground (I refused to kneel because i knew there was broken glass around there, so i squatted) and then mimicked the moves of their dance leaders. The whole affair had a fun air about it, like it was some kind of weird Disney program catering to Baltimore music nerds. I captured some great images from it, and need to upload them soon. This was one of my favorite nights of the year, and I am grateful I was able to get tickets before it sold out. Not just because it was so much fun, but because I was able to help out with Ben and his medical expenses (none of the musicians took a cut of anything, it was all for Ben).
