Review of the Conchords

Okay, I'm really late with this, but I wanted to write it anyway. On Tuesday, I went to the Flight of the Conchords concert with Tucker, Ashley, and Tim. Like I said a couple days ago, it was something I was really excited about.

So how did it turn out? I thought it was about as good as I was expecting.

Flight of the Conchords is one of those things that you either get or you don't. I don't think there are people that just kinda like them...either you hate them or you love them.

Of course, I didn't always love them. I first heard about them on the Ticket a couple years ago, and I decided to give it a shot. My life was lacking comedy, and I thought it would be a good idea. And at first, I didn't really like it. It was too dry...too random...too awkward.

But I stuck with it. I gave it another shot. Rewatched the premiere.

And, in a second, I got it. And after that, I was hooked. I got Ashley hooked. I got others hooked. I told them all that they'd have to acquire a taste for it, but once they did, they all liked it as much as I did. I enjoyed most of the first season...designed around songs that the Conchords had been playing for years. Business Time, Part-Time Model, The Humans Are Dead, Albie the Racist Dragon.

Towards the end of the season, the songs started slacking, though. In fact, the season finale didn't have any songs by the Conchords....just a song by the Crazy Dogggz (a rival band) and an instrumental song that Bret danced to.

This scared me a bit...because in a matter of ten episodes, the guys had already used up years worth of material. And some of their new stuff (written specifically for the show) didn't really work. Now, in their defense, two songs ("Frodo, Don't Wear the Ring" and "Cheer Up, Murray") were written specifically for the show and were genius.

Then came season two. I was so excited about season two that I watched the premiere at work (don't tell work). It was posted on HBO.com, and I was able to watch it.

And while I thought it was funny, something felt wrong. Something was off. And that's the way the entire second season felt. At times, it would be really good and really funny....but the songs were just not right.

Because the songs were the memorable part of the show. Outside of a couple exchanges, the songs from the first season were the funniest part of the show. In the second season, it flip-flopped. And the show itself isn't nearly as funny when the songs are drawn-out and unfunny.

In other words, the first season got an A. The second season got a C. Not failing...but also not great.

In the review I read about the show, I heard that there were a lot of second season songs, and I was a bit worried about that. I didn't want to go to the concert where the band plays all their new stuff and just a couple of hits. I wanted to hear all my favorites from the first season and maybe a couple of the funnier second season ones.

Well...I'd say it was about even. They played a lot of second season stuff and a lot of first season stuff.

The first season stuff, of course, was great. Business Time and Part-Time Model were especially great...and I love the two rap songs from the first one (I think "Mother Uckers" is particularly genius). But something really surprised me about the second season songs.

They were actually pretty funny in a concert stage. Something about being there made it a bit funnier to hear "Too Many Dicks On the Dance Floor" or "Sugar Lumps" - to the point where I enjoyed them a lot more than I thought I would.

And then Bret and Jemaine were really funny, of course. They bantered amongst each other...not exactly in character but close enough. They made fun of all the condom places in Dallas. They wished a guy Happy Cinco De Mayo after he yelled it to Bret. They were just about as funny as I expected.

It wasn't perfect, though. We were in the fourth section, about a million miles from the stage and in the balcony. So I spent a lot of the concert looking at the screens instead of trying to watch the actual band.

And they didn't play a couple of my favorite songs. Like I said, "Frodo" and "Cheer Up, Murray" were a couple of my favorites, and they didn't play either of those...probably because they aren't really "concert" songs. "The Tape of Love" is another one of my favorites, but I read that one isn't one of their usual concert songs either.

I was also really surprised that they didn't play "The Humans Are Dead" - I would've assumed that would've been their opener or their closer. They came out in the robot costumes, but they didn't open with it. And despite two encores, they never came back and played it.

And until the house lights came on, I was sure they were going to come out a third time and play it. But it never happened...and that made me a bit sad.

But they played for about two hours and entertained throughout. It probably won't be the best concert of my life, but it definitely did its job and entertained. And I guess that's about all I should expect from a couple guys from New Zealand.