Monday, April 21, 2008
silly love
His performance at Richard's on Saturday wasn't always great: the full band sort of overwhelmed the simplicity of his songs at times. Plus, the dudes in the band were a bit campy. But the songs he performed solo - notably, a show closing acapella version of "Devil Town" - and the tunes that he did with only an acoustic guitarist as accompaniment were brilliant.
There's another dimension to watching Johnston perform live though. His troubles have been well documented, but it's still a little disconcerting to see the way his hands shake when there's no instrument in them. And, I couldn't help but feel a little uncomfortable when (parts of) the crowd erupted in laughter after certain things that clearly weren't intended as jokes (although, there were plenty of purposeful - and successful - attempts at humour too). On the other hand, if you think about where the guy was for a pretty significant part of his life, it's pretty awesome to see him up on stage, doing something he loves, and doing it so well.
On a side note, it's wicked that people were super amped about a relatively obscure, under-appreciated (althought, less so now) singer-songwriter, but if you're at a show - any show - you should remember that nobody came to hear your tone-deaf, dumb ass yell out the lyrics to every song (you know, unless the band asks for crowd participation on every song. but they won't. ever).
silly love
Sometimes music just has an unexplainable intangible quality. When you think of "good music," it's usually either technically sound or avant-garde or both. While Daniel Johnston is certainly unconventional, he's not really pushing any envelopes. And he certainly isn't a technically proficient musician. Hell, he can't really even sing. But there's certainly something about his music.
His performance at Richard's on Saturday wasn't always great: the full band sort of overwhelmed the simplicity of his songs at times. Plus, the dudes in the band were a bit campy. But the songs he performed solo - notably, a show closing acapella version of "Devil Town" - and the tunes that he did with only an acoustic guitarist as accompaniment were brilliant.
There's another dimension to watching Johnston perform live though. His troubles have been well documented, but it's still a little disconcerting to see the way his hands shake when there's no instrument in them. And, I couldn't help but feel a little uncomfortable when (parts of) the crowd erupted in laughter after certain things that clearly weren't intended as jokes (although, there were plenty of purposeful - and successful - attempts at humour too). On the other hand, if you think about where the guy was for a pretty significant part of his life, it's pretty awesome to see him up on stage, doing something he loves, and doing it so well.
On a side note, it's wicked that people were super amped about a relatively obscure, under-appreciated (althought, less so now) singer-songwriter, but if you're at a show - any show - you should remember that nobody came to hear your tone-deaf, dumb ass yell out the lyrics to every song (you know, unless the band asks for crowd participation on every song. but they won't. ever).
Labels: daniel johnston, show recaps
