Setting matters so much in concerts. I think the thing is that, up until this point, the "transcendental" moments for me have been with HUGE amounts of people, or big settings, stuff like that. Daft Punk 07 and Kanye West 09 were both at Lollapalooza, which was, of course, gigantic. Wilco at the Pavilion in 09 and at the Riviera in 08 were both rather large settings. The Riviera is much cozier than the UIC Pavilion, but we're still talking 2500 people. Every time I've seen the Flaming Lips it was in a huge crowd. The Hold Steady/Drive-By Truckers show at the Riv in 08 was pretty big. Springsteen was at the United Center. So I mean, these things...they're big. Sometimes they're outright big, other times they're relative big, but still, big.
Last night with John Darnielle was small. Like, almost tiny. It was at the American Theater Company, which doesn't really have a big space to begin with. I would say there were, tops, 130 people in the room. Before the first song he passes this little notebook around the audience, and everyone who wants to can write down a request. He didn't really prepare a set-list except for maybe six or seven songs. After he finishes those six or seven he starts going through the requests.
I requested Golden Boy. Apparently there was a note at the top of the first page where John wrote that he was not going to play Golden Boy. I didn't read that part, but I wrote it down anyway. After I passed the notebook away he started talking about how no matter how many people want to hear Golden Boy, and no matter how badly they want to hear it, he wasn't going to play Golden Boy. Dammit. Juan requested Cubs in Five. Also a great song, but it's depressing as hell.
So after Going to Georgia (amazing song) he gets the notebook back and starts going through the requests. Some of the songs are super old and he didn't remember the words/chords, but someone in the audience knew how each song went, and he gave some of those a try. There were songs that only one person in the room remembered, and then there were singalong songs that were absolutely amazing. After he started doing requests he moved off the microphone and unplugged his amplifier. He asked the audience to move down, and everyone in the first three rows went and sat on the floor, while everyone behind them moved up into vacant seats. It was like a campfire thing where John Darnielle was our slightly drunken scout leader singing his songs about love, hate, rock and roll, and people from Texas. He also did a cover of The Sign by Ace of Base, which up to this point I've only seen on YouTube.
It was an amazing set, and then came the encore. He comes out, and he does a couple of songs on the piano, one of them new and one of them a cover. Then he does a cover of a Dio song because Ronnie James Dio died yesterday, and John Darnielle loves Black Sabbath. He also played Cubs In Five, which in and of itself was amazing, and made my night. It's a song that contains, in the chorus, "and the Chicago Cubs will beat every team in the league," but it's basically mentioning things that the singer knows will never happen. It's like "well, if these things happen then I'll love you again, but I won't love you again because there's no way in hell these things will ever happen." However, the hook is still "and the Chicago Cubs will beat every team in the league," which means every time he's in Chicago people yell for it.
But then, Vicky. But then. Then he played Golden Boy. HE FUCKING PLAYED GOLDEN BOY OH MY GOD. EVEN THOUGH HE EXPLICITLY SAID THAT HE WOULD NOT. AND I REQUESTED GOLDEN BOY IN THE BOOK AND OH MY GOD. IT WAS LIKE ONE OF THE BEST MOMENTS AND TIMES AND THIS AND THAT AND OK I'M TAKING OFF CAPS LOCK now. He said he played it because we didn't yell for it, and that at every one of his other shows there's always someone in the audience who shouts "Golden Boy!" after every song, which makes him not want to play it. He has a theory that some people only want him to play Golden Boy because they know he'll yell at them if they shout for it. I just wanted him to play it because 1. I know that he never plays it, and 2. I really like the song.
It seemed like it went on forever but at the same time there's no way I wanted it to stop. It ended with a singalong to The Best Ever Death Metal Band From Denton, complete with a chorus of HAIL SATAN at the end, sung by everyone in the crowd.
Because it was a fundraiser there were raffle prizes and stuff. After the encore they were drawing more raffle prizes and John came back out to pull some. (I won tickets to a theater production earlier in the night, which was cool. Who knows when that'll get used) He then said "if we raise $100 I'll sing Houseguest a-capella." So then we raised $100, and he sang Houseguest a-capella, walking around the audience, singing into their faces, exaggeratedly pushing people. It was an absolutely incredible way to end the night, and oh my god.
Intimate vs. Gigantic. It's so rare that something like this comes up. The last time Mountain Goats were in Chicago they played the Metro. There's also the difference between a full band and a solo performance. The full band has to be tighter and the singer can't ramble on about whatever he wants for five minutes.
But anyway, I'm still on a high from this. Absolutely amazing. Thanks for reading, Vicky, if you managed to make it all the way through.
