If You're Into It: The Flight of the Conchords Takes on The Orpheum

Last night I was lucky enough to score a tix to the closing show of the touring band (not duo, never duo) Flight of the Conchords. This pair of New Zealanders found their status (and sex life) increased dramatically when they starred in their own HBO comedy, appropriately titled 'Flight of the Conchords'.

Quite simply? They're awesome. And everyone thought so. The fanbase raged from pimply teenages gleefully sporting 'It's Business Time!' t-shirts (a catchphrase from one of their more popular tunes) to the older world weary couple raising their brows at the goth kids snorfing down storebought turkey sandwhiches as they waited to get in. My friend Matt, a Flight of the Conchords fanatic, was absolutely giddy, and talked endlessly about the fabulous tour reviews he had kept up with. I was authoritatively told that I should expect two opening acts: A comedian (also known as the racist fruit vendor from their show), and a folk singer from New Zealand who sang very pretty but wasn't really working the same angle ("In case you haven't figured it out by now," she later said to us, "I'm not a comedian."). But I'm getting ahead of myself.

Downtown can be a bitch for cheap parking. Luckily I was able to convince my mother to drop us off in front of the theatre. It was like high school all over again.

The doors opened at 7ish, and from there we went straight to the gift table. Good thing we did! the line had already wrapped around the room and there was only one haggard girl working the table. While we pondered what Fllight of the Conchord minted items to buy (there was a limited edition tour poster AND a real vinyl LP), we learned from the lone girl working that her help had quit an hour before the show. To which I say, 'What kind of bitch lady is this woman to have someone quit an hour before the show?!' Skeevy. I got myself a black t-shirt and my buddy grabbed a hold of a tshirt of his own and one of 'dem limited tour posters.

After that, it was time to wait for the bathroom for an hour and guzzle down half abottle of water before we found out seats, nestled with a great view right in front of the balcony.

After a ton of chitchat, in which we revealed what our favorite Flight of the Conchords songs were (Mine was 'If You're Into It', his was the crowd favorite 'It's Business Time') and more tour gossip (the crowded waiting an hourand a half for signings last night!) we finally got our opening act.

She was cute. She was folksy. She was... okay. Best part however was Bret MCing from the wings in a deep, dark voice, obviously having fun with the intros.

Then we got a comedian, who unintentionaly got his biggest laugh of the night when he went on about the Cold Stone Creamery folks and their idiotic compulsion to break into song and dance everytime someone tips them (are they TRYING to drive people away with that crap?), and compared them to a crappy Weird Al Yankovich song. The room exploded in cheers. Confused, the poor guy just stared at the crowd for about ten seconds, before he asked, "Is Wierd Al here or something?"

Yep, there he was, in the corner balcony, waving as the spot light hit him.

Comedian: ... oh. I knew my joke wasn't that funny.

And then came the Flight of the Conchord guys, who continue to amuse with their inane blabber (they went on for ten minutes about how they're not a duo, they're a band, and how come three guys can be a band and one guy can be a one man band, but two people have to be duos), and their hilarious songs. Every so often, some besotted fan would scream out for one of the guys to take off his shirt (I did already, Jermaine retorted. In my dressing room. It was hot so I took off my shirt), but as a whole, the crowd was a lot less rambuctious than I thought they would be. Most were just pleased and awed to be standing so close the their comic musical idols, and with good reason. Despite their unassuming appearance and casual demeanor, these guys are crazy talented. They could play any instrument, pulled out digital saxes and mandolins, and mold their voices to match any sort of rythym: funk, ballad, theme...

It really was a great night, and I felt lucky to be there.

One song I didn't expect to hear, but I did, and was thrilled to see was 'She's So Hot (Boom)'. While we got a whole lot of ass shaking, hopefully this clip from HBO's show will do it justice: