Concert in Review: Flight of the Conchords

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Bret, Jemaine and New Zealand Symphony Orchestra rock out the St. Louis crowd at the Fox Theater April 30, 2009. Photo courtesy of the Official Flight of the Conchords MySpace page. 

Last night, I had the pleasure of going to the sold out show at the fabulous Fox Theater to see HBO's folk comedy wonders from New Zealand, Flight of the Conchords.

Having been a fan since the first season of the show, I was amped for the concert and couldn't wait to see if their personalities were as naive and dry as portrayed on their show. Turns out, Bret McKenzie and Jemaine Clement were some of the wittiest performers I've witnessed in my day.

To start the show, the duo rocked out their heaviest electronic jam, Too Many (Censored) On The Dance Floor in their signature robot costumes from the show. After the number, Bret joked about how once he got on stage, he didn't even know if Jemaine was next to him performing because Jemaine was late to stage and he couldn't see to the side of him.

Their casual and seemingly improvisational droll between sets proved to be more humorous than their quirky songs, and they joked that if you didn't like the talking, just be patient and there will be more songs, and if you are just here for the talking, please wait out the songs as their would be more talking.

In one of the breaks between songs, the duo graciously thanked St. Louis and talked about their day visiting Union Station and how great St. Louis city was. Jemaine joked, "You probably think we say the same thanks to every city" and then ripped off his blue button up shirt to reveal a Cardinals t-shirt, which drove the crowd wild. Bret chimed in, "Yes, we love your hardball team." Jemaine then quipped, "I thought that was a band." 

The hour and a half long set was filled with both Season 1 and Season 2 songs from their show, such as Carol Brown, Robots, Bowie, Foux du Fafa and Mutha'uckers, as well a few songs that stayed true to their folk format that were not featured on the hit show. To keep all of the songs fresh, some lyrics were changed up a bit, which only brought on more laughs. 

I was truly amazed at the vocal range the guys are capable of; Jemaine can go from an extremely low-octave to a high-pitched note in seconds and Bret also has an incredible capability to sing like a woman, which really brought their bantering love songs to life. 

One of the greatest aspects of their performance is also the range of instruments they play. Most of the electronic instruments left me scratching my head, as they look like toys I used to play with as a child. Nevertheless, they rock out every instrument from drums to the keytar, and make it look hot. 

Towards the end of the show, the guys opened up a dialogue with the crowd, which after about 10 minutes, jokingly regretted. People in the crowd were shouting requests, asking where Murray was and yelling, "Season three!" to which Bret replied, "HBO pays someone to say that at the shows." Jemaine quickly chimed back to the audience in good humor, "You do season three!" 

Bret even ran out into the crowd at one point and played a keytar solo, where he was pretty much molested by female fans. (Although he acted bashful, he liked it.) 

Jumping backwards, the opening act for the show, Eugene Mirman, got quite a few belly laughs out of the crowd. Most of his adult material is explicit, but I would say it was all in good fun. His rant about Delta Airlines' incompetence was definitely something to be heard. To learn more about Eugene Mirman, click here.  

Overall, Flight of the Conchords delivered a stellar, unforgettable performance that kept The Fox audience grinning from ear to ear. 

To check out more photos from the event, click here to see what iParty was able to capture. Sadly, my camera phone photos are not worthy of sharing. 

Will there be a season three of Flight of the Conchords? Unfortunately, they are saying no. The buzz is that the guys struggled to crank out Season 2, and they declared back in August that it would be their final season. However, I'm keeping my fingers crossed. Yisss. 

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