Dan Deacon @ Triple Rock Social Club

Electronic mad man Dan Deacon brought a new look to his show Saturday night at the Triple Rock Social Club. Instead of his usual space-age rig to present his Looney Tunes meet classical arrangements, Deacon brought an 11 piece band that added an extra dimension to his always crazy live show.

Any worries about whether the notoriously goofy Deacon had gone serious by adding a P-Funk sized band were quickly put to rest. Before the white jumpsuit dressed band even played a note, Deacon had the crowd kneeling, pointing and chanting along with him. When the band finally began to play, it only added to the spectacle. Despite sporting a sling on his arm, Deacon still twisted knobs like an overweight scientist, and the band pounded out the dense and melodic songs from his two studio albums. Although some of the band members didn’t seem as equally necessary as others (honestly, what band needs 11 people?), they did a good job of re-creating the dance-y electronic sound that Deacon does so well. The undeniable stars of the band were the two guys sitting behind the drum kits in the center of the stage. The propulsive rhythms from the two intertwined and allowed the rest of the band to experiment with various bells and whistles while they held down the hyperactive rhythms. There was a third drummer playing stand up drums a la Bobby Gillespie, but her involvement was summed up succinctly when my friend caught her yawning in the middle of one of the songs.

Like his other shows in the past, Deacon was the consummate showman and seemed hell bent on getting every person in the club involved in his shenanigans. First up was his customary dance party during the middle of the set. Unlike previous times I have seen him, he didn’t stand around and officiate, so it pretty quickly turned from a dance “contest” into a dance “party,” but it still got the crowd moving. Later in the set his great idea was to have people form a human tunnel with our hands and have others run through it and add on to the tunnel. His ultimate goal was to have the whole crowd snake its way outside, which as far as I could tell just about happened. While the band kept playing inside, I found myself standing outside on Cedar Avenue with my hands above my head across from a girl I had never met who looked to be about 13 years old. Needless to say, her young arms had more energy than mine and I succumbed to an arm cramp after a few minutes and had to let our part of the tunnel collapse. After a few minutes of disarray, and a tunnel that snaked around the outside of the Triple Rock, people finally had enough and sauntered back into the club. Shorty after our team building activity, Deacon introduced “Silence Like the Wind Overtakes Me” as the final song of the set. The song, which basically is a bleeping electronic beat overlapped with Deacon (and the crowd) singing the title over and over, was a great end to the set. Like the majority of his music, it juxtaposes simple ideas and melodies with some dance ready music that has more depth than is apparent at first listen. The young crowd (this was the all ages show, the first of two shows Deacon played) jumped around like they done for the whole set and sang at the top of their lungs each time the lyrics circled back again, ending the set on a really high note and ushering the crowd into the night with smiles on their sweaty faces.

Dan Deacon is an interesting character to say the least. His music is one part serious artist and one part court jester, seemingly pulling societies collective leg. In the live setting, he comes across as a live art provocateur that is hell bent on being the goofiest man in the room. While I have enjoyed both of his studio albums to various degrees, I found myself writing this review mostly about his class clown antics instead of his band or his music. While his shows are no doubt entertaining, one has to wonder at what point the joke becomes stale and Deacon will finally allow the music to speak for itself. Until then, at least you can always count on an unpredictable and fun time at his shows, even if his music may take a back seat to the “performance.”

[Review by Josh Keller, photos by Jon Behm]

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Also: Interview with Dan Deacon