25 May - London, UK (Wembley Arena)

chrissycubana wrote:

i love how it looks like jemaine is literally smoking hot here .

i mean, we all *know* he's *figuratively* smoking hot, of course!

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sargifster wrote:

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emira wrote:

Venus wrote:

I met your sister after the show, Sylwia! She recognised me (as did quite a few other people who were there cos of the photos I've posted ) and was really nice and showed me some of her footage (she got quite a lot!). I wish I could have spoken to her more though.

She didn't tell me! What are the chances in 12,000 crowd, ay? " title="" border="0"/> I'm glad she met other FotC fans . Maybe you'll have a chance to meet her when I come to London in summer.

I can't wait to see her footages . Thanks for the photos so far, Vesna .

emira wrote:

sargifster wrote:

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My sister's started uploading her videos. Here's the first one.

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emira wrote:

sargifster wrote:

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My sister's started uploading her videos. Here's the first one.

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onlyalways wrote:

emira wrote:

My sister's started uploading her videos. Here's the first one.

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squidhat wrote:

onlyalways wrote:

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[size=133:hpl3bn6x]Gig review: FotC
[size=100:hpl3bn6x]Picture the scene: a group of people strolling towards Wembley Arena. Most of them wearing normal clothes... or so you'd think. The more you look around you see a lot of people wearing thick rimmed glass-less glasses. A fair few are wearing garish animal print tees. One man seems to be wearing woven trousers. And, did I even see some dressed as sheep?



The answer is yes. Why? It's the FotC gig of course!

Oh Bret and Jemaine, you talented Kiwis you. How have you done it? How is it that you've turned being a pair of failed musicians with a part-time, incompetent band manager and one obsessive fan into the epitome of cool? What is your secret?

Is it the songs? Is it the fact the deadpan banter between you both is just so bad it's good? Is it because your songs have subtle hilarities that often go unnoticed, unless you're amazingly clever (like me?)

Whatever is it, Bret and Jemaine, of Flight of the Conchords fame, rocked the party at Wembley. Jemaine originally had problems with his swivel chair in the beginning but the stage hand guy soon had it under control. A bit too under control, actually. Jemaine was no longer able to swivel on his swivel chair, but he powered through the drama.

While we sat in the car park of McDonald's eating our pre-show meal, like the classy people we are, we were all wondering how they'd translate their act onto stage. No one really knew what to expect. Would it be all music? All comedy? A mix of both? Would they even turn up? No one knew!

Thankfully, they did turn up. The show opened with Bret and Jemaine in their kind-of-like Daft Punk outfits. After the first song Too Many Dicks, and a standing ovation from the audience, we were introduced to the band.

Bret: It's lovely to be here. At this point I'll introduce the band. To my right is Jemaine.
[Audience cheers wildly and Jemaine plays an awesome little riff on his guitar. Audience laughs]
Jemaine: [Very politely] Thank you. [More audience laughter]
Bret: Neither to my right nor my left, right in the centre of me, is me.
[Audience cheers again, Bret twangs his guitar. One high pitched, solitary note.]
Bret: It's great to have the whole band here tonight.
Jemaine: As Bret's already said, it was lovely to be here tonight.
Bret: It still is, it still is.
Jemaine: Oh, yeah. [Awkward pause]
Bret: What a show it's been(!)
Jemaine: Well, some of the initial excitement is dissipating, but it's still great to be here, thanks for coming.

We knew after hearing those opening words that there were many more good things to come. But it wasn't only about the songs. Bret and Jemaine themselves really made the show a unique experience. They stayed in their persona's, two lovable nerdy geeks, the whole night. And despite the challenges of having to play onstage with the whole New Zealand Orchestra they managed to constantly entertain the crowd. Jemaine really stole the show though. He took a backseat in the TV show, but onstage is where he really shone.

Classic songs made an appearance;
Albi The Racist Dragon, Robots (feat. Arnie) and Hiphopapotamus v. Rhymenocerous were as witty and clever as they always have been, and even the new kids on the block like 1353/Woo A Lady had the crowd roaring with laughter. And the spandex. Oh the spandex!

Highlights of the gig?

Jemaine forgot the chords to Prince of Parties and had to sing the chorus extra slow so he could re-teach himself.

The final song, a slow and moody rendition of Sugalumps (with guest appearance by Arj Barker) meant Bret and Jemaine jumped off the stage to mingle with the front row. Bret did have to call security as a crazed women tried to molest them, a man a few rows back started taking pictures of Bret's junk and Bret sprained his ankle trying to climb back on stage, however they managed to keep calm and composed throughout the ordeal.

A terribly disappointing group sing-song of Epileptic Dog meant those at the back let the whole things down. Yeah, that included us! In our defense, it was the hardest part to do (unlike the front who just had to CLAP!) and we did try and do Jemaine's awesome Barry White voice "
Ohhh oh, Epileptic, yeah Epileptic Daaaaaawg!"
but none of us have the raw talent that Jemaine oozes.

It's no exaggeration when I say the whole audience was in stitches throughout the gig. Bret and Jemaine are true showmen, they laughed with the people that shouted out requests to them and shuffled awkwardly around the cries for a third series. The mix of comedy banter and songs made the night a great success and I only wish they'd stay in London forever.

So what is their secret? It's the blend of witty, deadpan humour, parodical music and the ability to laugh at themselves that proves that these two Kiwis will still be touring the world for a good few years to come. And I'll be following them, not unlike creepy Mel.

Score? Of course it's a 5/5.

[size=133:hpl3bn6x]...Jemaine really stole the show though. He took a backseat in the TV show, but onstage is where he really shone.

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I know it's too late to put those photos into spoiler, you've already seen them... : I forgot, it was very late when I posted them and I now just realized I should have hidden them .

Venus wrote:Yes, tonight's show was amazing!

It was great meeting you at the gig, AlwaysWebsurfing! Hope you had a blast as well! Safe journey back to the US!

AlwaysWebsurfing wrote:

Venus wrote:Yes, tonight's show was amazing!

It was great meeting you at the gig, AlwaysWebsurfing! Hope you had a blast as well! Safe journey back to the US!

AMAZING BEYOND BELIEF!

So great meeting you also, Vesna! Your pictures are brilliant!

My FOTC newbie friend to the left of me got grazed by Bret's Sugalumps...as you'll soon see in the accompanying video, what an intimate introduction to FOTC wouldn't ya say

She advised me to skip the car rental (nowhere to park) tried my first ever meat pies (no cauliflower, nor rubber bits) and before the show took a ride in the London Eye (huge ferris wheel ON the Thames river) and there was a man in our pod giving his touristy friends a bridge tour.....he would have done Brian Nesbitt proud!

here's Lumps of London
[flash=350,287:auwq9d43]https://www.youtube.com/v/423uy9JyGVQ&hl=en&fs=1[/flash:auwq9d43]

and I tried to get a snippet of the Synchronized Boom Dance
[flash=350,287:auwq9d43]https://www.youtube.com/v/WowHRzvESEc&hl=en&fs=1[/flash:auwq9d43]

[size=100:mqrrcss8]Flight of the Conchords, Wembley Arena

When Flight of the Conchords last appeared live in the UK, they were a cultish if celebrated musical comedy duo playing relatively modest rooms to those in the Edinburgh Fringe know. A few years later, with two HBO series behind them (admittedly tucked away on BBC Four), a few dates at the Hammersmith Apollo couldn’t meet demand in the capital – only Wembley Arena can hold them now.

Jemaine Clement and Bret McKenzie aren’t really the type of bombastic rockers or big-production pop stars that normally fill this space though – they’re resolutely and charmingly lo-fi.

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- some nifty lighting for the Daft Punk-esque stomper Too Many Dicks On The Dancefloor and the addition, for a few songs, of cello, drums and piano-playing Nigel (introduced as the travel size version of the New Zealand National Orchestra) but apart from that, it was just the two of them, sitting on stools, singing songs.

But what songs. Without many distractions, even in a barn like Wembley you got to really concentrate on the quality of the lyrics and the brilliance of the musicianship;
FotC might be known as a comedy duo, but here they were a proper band. With Bret’s intricate guitar on The Most Beautiful Girl In The Room (a triumph in back-handed compliments), Inner City Pressure’s stunning synths and rhymes like “They call me the Hiphop-apotamus cause I got flows that glow like phosphorous”, these are finely crafted and consistently hilarious songs which, performed live, really get their chance to shine.

All of the tracks which have appeared in the TV show were rapturously received, especially Jemaine’s sublime Barry White slow-jam Business Time (complete with recorder solo) which was a real highlight, and most were dotted with different and extra lines to provide new laughs – the best being the introduction of “You could be a plus-size model” to The Most Beautiful Girl In The Room. But other songs which haven’t had the same exposure clearly won over the newer fans too. Jenny, a favourite from the Conchords’ pre-telly days about an awkward case of mistaken identity brought belly-laughs, and a song set in 1353 got one of the best reactions of the night.

Between the songs, it has to be said that Jemaine gives more of himself than laid-back Bret and as such gets more in return – the bulk of the protestations of love from the audience are aimed his way. But as is the case with all great double-acts, the magic lies in the chemistry and it’s the rapport based on years of obvious friendship that makes the banter (or ‘professional talking’ as they put it) such fun – most memorably a brilliant extended riff on the duo’s attempts to resist going down the slippery slope of rock and roll excess by accepting a free muffin.

When the inevitable calls for "
Series three!"
came, Jemaine made the good point that another series would mean not being able to come out on the road, and on this evidence that would be a real travesty. This gig was a showcase for the duo’s superlative songwriting skills, and the sooner they can return to the stage – where they are so clearly at home – with new material, the better.

Written for MusicOMH, where I couldn't really write OMG CONCHORDS WERE AS GREAT AS I'D HOPED. But I can here. Because they were.

[size=100:mqrrcss8]Between the songs, it has to be said that Jemaine gives more of himself than laid-back Bret and as such gets more in return – the bulk of the protestations of love from the audience are aimed his way. But as is the case with all great double-acts, the magic lies in the chemistry and it’s the rapport based on years of obvious friendship that makes the banter (or ‘professional talking’ as they put it) such fun...

sargifster wrote:

[size=100:zh697ct6]Between the songs, it has to be said that Jemaine gives more of himself than laid-back Bret and as such gets more in return –
the bulk of the protestations of love from the audience are aimed his way. But as is the case with all great double-acts, the magic lies in the chemistry and it’
s the rapport based on years of obvious friendship that makes the banter (or ‘
professional talking’
as they put it) such fun...

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emira wrote:3:15-26 of this video is what I'm talking about (and the chemistry as well ):

[flash=350,287:c8loczwd]https://www.youtube.com/v/w2p943Guj38&hl=en&fs=1[/flash:c8loczwd]