10 May - Birmingham, UK (The National Indoor Arena)

onlyalways wrote:[size=133:dgxgyn5y]Bret ran out of the van and did a 'ta da!' like stance in front of us. I was so shocked that I just froze with my jaw open that he just stood there for a second then said SOMETHING like "
well come on!"
and dove in to give me a hug.

hellomyfriend wrote:

onlyalways wrote:[size=133:toqkeocb]Bret ran out of the van and did a 'ta da!' like stance in front of us. I was so shocked that I just froze with my jaw open that he just stood there for a second then said SOMETHING like "
well come on!"
and dove in to give me a hug.

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Venus wrote:Oh yeah, here's a pic of my signed gig poster which I took on my phone and posted on Twitter:

[bret] looked over at me as I was trying to take some candid shots and so we caught each other’s eyes and smiled at each other for a couple of seconds.

I think this triggered off my inner fan girl tendencies to take over so I flung my arms around him to hug him. I couldn’t help it, it was an impulsive reaction.

Bret was then right next to me and was still his bubbly and smiley self. I asked him for a picture so he grabbed me close and put his arm around me. I wanted a hug photo but for some reason I was little hesitant. He seemed to have read my mind and said “You can put both arms around me if you want”

Then I said that I’ve read the book so I know what happens to him so he made a gesture which I won’t state since it spoils the plot but people who have read the book can probably guess the gesture Jemaine made.

lukeyboy wrote:Hey all, thanks for the warm welcome. Been a busy gig-hopping laddy the last few days but finally settled down to write my FotC review tonight. Link as follows:



Hope you enjoy, but you guys seem to do a fine line in recapping the best bits yourselves so you don't really need a newbie like me " title="" border="0"/> Great gig though, I'm still giddy!

lukeyboy wrote:Hey all, thanks for the warm welcome. Been a busy gig-hopping laddy the last few days but finally settled down to write my FotC review tonight. Link as follows:



Hope you enjoy, but you guys seem to do a fine line in recapping the best bits yourselves so you don't really need a newbie like me " title="" border="0"/> Great gig though, I'm still giddy!

lukeyboy wrote:Hey all, thanks for the warm welcome. Been a busy gig-hopping laddy the last few days but finally settled down to write my FotC review tonight. Link as follows:



Hope you enjoy, but you guys seem to do a fine line in recapping the best bits yourselves so you don't really need a newbie like me " title="" border="0"/> Great gig though, I'm still giddy!

lukeyboy wrote:Hey all, thanks for the warm welcome. Been a busy gig-hopping laddy the last few days but finally settled down to write my FotC review tonight. Link as follows:



Hope you enjoy, but you guys seem to do a fine line in recapping the best bits yourselves so you don't really need a newbie like me " title="" border="0"/> Great gig though, I'm still giddy!

Venus wrote:Love this part in your review:

"
This is followed by the cock-rock excess of Demon Woman, wherein an extra dose of over-exaggerated posturing ends in the quaintest instrument-trashing ever witnessed by man. "

hellomyfriend wrote:

Venus wrote:Love this part in your review:

"
This is followed by the cock-rock excess of Demon Woman, wherein an extra dose of over-exaggerated posturing ends in the quaintest instrument-trashing ever witnessed by man. "

That was my favorite part too.

lukeyboy wrote:Hey all, thanks for the warm welcome. Been a busy gig-hopping laddy the last few days but finally settled down to write my FotC review tonight. Link as follows:



Hope you enjoy, but you guys seem to do a fine line in recapping the best bits yourselves so you don't really need a newbie like me " title="" border="0"/> Great gig though, I'm still giddy!

Amily wrote:Vesna!

I finally got around to reading your recaps and I must say you've inspired me to do a better job of my own this year. How did you remember everything so well?

Very detailed, very lovely.

Thank you for sharing!

[size=150:obyl0mqb]Flight of the Conchords, NIA, Birmingham
[size=100:obyl0mqb]Jemaine Clement and Bret McKenzie's anti-folk television duo are superstars of comic pastiche, now the Conchords show they're also top flight on stage

Reviewed by Simon Price

Sunday, 16 May 2010

[size=100:obyl0mqb]In spite of two hit HBO series syndicated worldwide, millions of DVD and album sales, and now big enough to fill 12,000-seater hangars such as the NIA, Flight of the Conchords still don't look the part, with the indie/lo-fi sensibility of the show, the zen stoner feel and the in-jokey nature of its humour.

Flight of the Conchords – real version (or semi-real, but we'll come to that) – are the genius double act of Jemaine Clement and Bret McKenzie. Half-Maori Jemaine is the nerdy, bespectacled Jeff Goldblum lookalike in a plaid shirt whose speciality is putting on super-falsetto or basso profundo voices while playing an unconvincing Mr Loverman. Bret (or "
Brit"
in his Kiwi accent) is the bearded pretty boy in a washed-out Silver Lions 20/20 T-shirt who specialises in pulling the mock-soulful facial expressions of the pseudo-sincere rocker.

Flight of the Conchords – fictional version – are an anti-folk duo from New Zealand living illegally in New York trying to break America. It's the comedy of failure;
it's a subtle satire of the immigrant experience, and it's also an elongated buddy movie in half-hour instalments. But the real hook – the reason why it's adored by so many – is the music.

The plot premise that the Conchords are desperate genre-hoppers allows them to tackle any musical style they choose. Their pastiches are never too on the nose, executed with the subtlety and wit of men who know music inside out. The joke's always ultimately on the Conchords themselves.

We get homages to Prince on "
The Most Beautiful Girl in the Room"
("
You could be a part-time model ... an air hostess in the Sixties ..."
);
Barry White on "
Business Time"
("
I take off my clothes, but I trip over my jeans, and I'm still wearing my shoes ... but it's OK, because I turn it all into a sexy dance"
);
Marvin Gaye on "
Think About It"
("
Why are we still paying so much for sneakers when you got them made by little kid slaves? What are your overheads?"
);
a 10cc/John Waite denial song in "
I'm Not Crying"
("
I'm cooking lasagna ... for one"
);
and the charity fundraiser "
Epileptic Dogs"
("
There's a golden retriever that's having a seizure ..."
).

Regardless of the humour, these are brilliant songs. The ultimate, also unplayed, is lighter-waving anthem "
Pencils in the Wind"
, an extended stationery metaphor which is as silly as it is genuinely touching. I actually had it played at my wedding.

Tonight, using an assortment of miniature instruments and the New Zealand symphony orchestra (who is one cellist called Nigel), the Conchords perform highlights from their song-book, expanded to include verses unheard on TV, as well as a handful of brand new tunes, raising hopes that there may be a third series after all. "
1353"
, a medieval folk ballad about "
wooing a lady"
and featuring duelling recorders, is crying out for a video.

A heckle of "
Where's Murray?"
(a reference to their hapless manager, played by Rhys Darby) is slapped down thus: "
He's with all the other fictional characters of the world ..."
There's an undeniable fiction/reality continuum with these guys. Bret and Jemaine are playing Bret and Jemaine, as proven by the knowingly tedious tour anecdotes about eating muffins in the hotel (not in the Aerosmith sense). How these perennial losers ended up playing the arena circuit is a hole in the plot that has yet to be explained, but everyone's laughing too hard to care.

When they aren't laughing, they're making ovine baas. Which eventually becomes too much for Jemaine, who's clearly encountered this one before. "
You think you're so clever, but you probably don't know what you're saying in sheep language."