by Shamim Ahad
Massey Hall, April 21-22, 2009
The “4th most popular folk-parody group in New Zealand” graced Toronto with their presence for two sold-out nights at Massey Hall this past April. HBO superstars, the Flight of the Conchords, gave an impressive and hilarious live performance. Massey Hall was a perfect venue because it preserved the intimacy of a comedy show while still allowing for a large volume of fans to attend.
Eugene Mirman, who plays Eugene the Superintendent on the show, warmed up the crowd with a rousing series of absurd observations (“Kids say the darndest things don’t they? Well you would too, if you were uneducated!”) and an amusing diatribe about his abuse at the hands of Delta airlines. If you want to help him out, he has postcards you can send to Delta on his behalf. He has yet to obtain his luggage. He then introduced the boys to great applause.
Their acoustic set was made up of several songs from Season Two and favourites from Season One. They made great use of the sole member of the “New Zealand Symphony Orchestra,” as well as several accessory instruments that appear on the show such as the baby piano, bongos and electric harp.
“Jenny – a hilarious misunderstanding” began the program and was a real crowd-pleaser. This was followed by enthusiastic renditions of “Hurt Feelings”, “Sugarlumps”, “Too many Dicks on the Dancefloor”, “Carol Brown”, “Cello Tape”, “Albi the Racist Dragon” and a great jazzy version of “Foux da Fa Fa” , just to name a few. They ended the evening with a three song encore made up of “Devilwoman”, “Tour Bus” and “Bowie’s in Space”.
One FOTC’s greatest strengths is their interactivity with the audience. There was constant banter throughout between Jermaine (Clement) and Bret (McKenzie) about their time in Canada and other random topics. People yelled out “requests” all night, many of which were already in the prepared line-up. At one point the boys stopped the show to wait for some fellow in the front row to come back from the bathroom. Much discussion about the size of this man’s bladder ensued. During “Sugarlumps”, they went into the audience, beckoned a woman on stage , only to call security when she followed suit.
The Flight of the Conchords produced an amazing live show which was well worth the advanced ticket price of $50. When they return to Canada they are definitely not to be missed.
Photo credits: Shamim Ahad, 2009.
