July 28, 2006 - Los Angeles, CA (Largo)

Flight of the Conchords - Largo - July 28, 2006 - Review by Allan

Thank god the Conchords added a second show at the Largo. I couldn't attend the one on the 21st, so I was excited and relieved when I found out about the second gig. As you have heard from others, the guys were really cool about taking time to chat with their fans and provide autographs after the show. They didn't hesitate when I asked them to sign all three CDs of my BBC set. The funniest thing was when I handed Jemaine my BBC set, he looked excited, telling me that he hadn't seen one before. He quickly turned to Bret, telling him to check out the CDs. He said that his friend designed the cover/CD design, so he had seen the artwork, but hadn't gotten copies of his own. I asked how the pilot is going, and he said they had just finished shooting it the day before. They did say if the show gets picked up, they will be in LA for a few months (which I hope means more LA gigs). But until that's decided, it seems the duo are returning to NZ, making it uncertain as to when their next LA performances will be.

But I digress. I'm sure you'd much rather read about the performance As you might have guessed, it was awesome. Greg Proops who referred to them as Orlando Bloom and Benicio del Toro, gave the Conchords a great introduction as they walked onto the stage. They started off with Think About It (Think, Think About It), which of course got a great ovation. The highlight of this song for me is when they break it down and then bring it back up. Last night, Jemaine reached over to the piano next to them and began playing a few keys. Maintaining the high pitched voice, Jemaine turns to Bret to ask which one the D key is. Bret responds, "You can play the A," and then Jemaine presses a few more keys and says, "I think I found the A." After the song, Jemaine admitted that he doesn't know how to play the piano although he wanted to learn. Jemaine played off on that later in the evening by looking sad when Bret got on the piano for I'm Not Crying, accusing Bret of being able to play the piano only because Bret grew up in a rich family while he grew up poor.

Their second song was You're So Beautiful, which they performed expertly and is quickly becoming my favorite song. After that, they performed a very lounge-y version of Foux Du Fafa, putting additional emphasis into the baguette joke. They introduced the next song as being Hip-Hop influenced. The cheering crowd let out a disappointed groan when Bret said it's not the song the audience is thinking of. I knew this had to be the Mother*uckers song. But they started to play the riffs to Hiphoppopatamus Vs. The Rhymenocerus, which puzzled me until they stopped playing. They realized they were both playing the wrong song, calling themselves idiots. Bret said it confused them because the only difference between the two songs was one chord, which prompted Jemaine to cover his mike and tell Bret maybe they shouldn't divulge such secrets. So they finally began singing the hilarious Mother*uckers song, made even funnier when Jemaine got stuck on words on some of the verses. When the song was over, Jemaine said that the performance was a disaster. Bret said it felt as if that rendition was predestined to fail, to which Jemaine added that it was strange since they rarely messed up.

The Conchords preceded their next song by saying they were Christians wanting to spead the good word to those they met. That led into Angels, which was a pleasant surprise. When they finished, Jemaine admitted the song was childish, and it was in fact written when they were children. The biggest surprise for me last night though was Business Time. I thought I read somewhere they didn't perform that song anymore. So I didn't even recognize it until Kim excitedly tapped me at the start of the song.

They finished the evening with another classic, Jenny. Having listened to the HBO performance countless times, my favorite part of the song last night was when they changed Police Academy 4 to Weekend At Bernie's, going off on how that silly premise stretched over two movies. When they began Jenny, Bret calmed the excited crowd, telling us that we should keep our applause low-key for such a gentle song, which we abided only for a little while.

Again, I feel fortunate to have attended a second F O the C show, given that their gigs are always announced last minute and sold out in a heartbeat. I hope their pilot gets picked up and finds success, so they can release more albums and book enough shows to accommodate all of us fans.