Dan Deacon with High Places

Friday, February 20, 2009

Cassette #9, Auckland

The two international acts probably couldn’t have been more diverse; on one hand you had the shy, whimsical, bubble-gum pop of High Places and on the other hand was the confrontational, party-time, electronic pop of Dan Deacon. Two very different styles of music and two very different audiences, but they seemed to come together perfectly. Perhaps that was the nature of the experiment.

High Places had me captivated, their pop music put me under a spell that was in some way hypnotic and slightly out of focus. Vocalist Mary Pearson sung in the most beautiful canary-type voice, which live was even more magical than on record. Rob Barber provided a hip-hop style beat, that had a large section of the crowd bobbing up and down and with sweet pre-recorded chimes, bells and other sounds of the forest pushing the music towards the sky, it was an absolute blissful experience. After seeing El Guincho and The Ruby Suns recently, High Places’ use of various instruments on stage gave that little bit something extra to the live show, leaving me thoroughly impressed.

It was like the show had transformed, Dan Deacon set up in front of the stage and did his best to dispel any memory of High Places. He came out shouting and slightly unprepared, thanks to a 5am flight from Wellington the same morning. His unconventional live performance quickly took shape, encouraging people to raise their arms, clench their fists and slowly feel a greater power take over their body; all the while he yelled through the microphone like a shaman speaking to the followers of a weird cult. The music than began, and people went nuts, dancing like maniacs until Deacon stopped, sat them all down and set up a dance circle in the middle of the crowd. One by one people danced before tagging in a new person to continue the motion, the gig was fast becoming a bush-style rave and Deacon seemed to be in his element as the ring leader. The music however, for those of us that cared was pretty lacklustre, reminding me of a very average version of Disasteradio. It didn’t seem to matter to most, who were there to party and do it any way they were told. And if you didn’t want to participate you were out of luck, Deacon wasn’t prepared to tolerate party-poopers or shyness; his next act involved everyone. Turning the gig into a complete interactive circus performance, Deacon forced everyone in the venue to create a human tunnel, going from inside the bar, down the stairs, out on to the street and around in circles until everyone had vacated the premises. It was pretty extreme, but Deacon jumped around like a monkey on acid, completely in his own world where he was the ring-master of his own human circus. Once back inside the venue, the madness was slightly more subdued and the music seemed to be a bit more on focus. Drawing to a close, Deacon had the crowd buzzing out to his cut-up electro beats. People lapped it up, they loved Dan Deacon as a performer, and he surely made up for having a pretty average array of live music.

Auckland band Golden Axe opened the night and like always they showed they have a world-class live show that often outshines the headline act. Their version of Katy Perry’s ‘Hot N Cold’ was absolutely brilliant but unfortunately my chance to enjoy it was ruined by the most pretentious and rude photographer I have ever met, who thought it appropriate to push through the crowd and slam her camera in the faces of unsuspecting victims. The flash completely blinded me and a number of pissed off people around me, but even when I confronted her she laughed, saying she was taking photos for the venue, which in her way somehow justified invading peoples’ personal space.

Apart from having my night soured by one rude photographer, memories of High Places’ performance will never be forgotten. Dan Deacon’s music may not have done much for me, but his live theatrics were incredible, it was outrageous in a good way and I can’t complain about that.

More Dan Deacon and High Places live photos

Posted by Nick Fulton under Los Angeles
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