Dan Deacon at Red Hook ...
By Eric Shapiro - New York Press, June 18, 2010
On Tuesday, the South Street Seaport descended into chaos when rapper Drake was unable to perform at a free concert due to overcrowding. The riots may have raked in headlines, but the real musical event of the day went down in Brooklyn’s Red Hook Park, courtesy of Dan Deacon. Its attendees experienced chaos as well, albeit of a different variety; namely, the transcendent chaos that ensues when a great performer ignites the energy of the crowd. Even the most restrained hipsters could not help but join in on the collective adrenaline rush.
As disgruntled Drake fans hurled chairs and received faces full of mace, those lucky enough to be at the Dan Deacon show jumped, clapped, crowd-surfed and had an all-around awesome time. The experience as a whole left more of an impression than any individual songs. The audience’s frenzy made it difficult to concentrate on individual melodies and instruments. Instead, everything blended together into one manic, synthesizer-drenched trip.
The sheer physicality of the music was overwhelming, defined by the band’s mastery of dynamics. Frantic, driving rhythms frequently shifted into quiet interludes before taking off again. The band delivered enough variations of this tactic to keep everyone on their toes, or, alternately, up in the air. I’ve been to shows with crowd surfing before, but I can’t remember ever seeing so many people held aloft at once. Suffice to say, there were some spectacular wipe-outs.
In addition to the standard practice of tossing out beach balls, Deacon had the crowd form a circle, at the center of which audience members joined an expert hula hooper for a dance off. Later, he reconvened the circle for a comparatively mellow interpretive dance (basically, Simon Says set to music). These breaks allowed the audience to rest before the glorious free-for-all recommenced.
It is to Deacon’s credit that he was able to maintain the crowd’s enthusiasm despite a considerable environmental hazard: raging dust storms. Well, perhaps that’s an exaggeration, but ask anyone to describe the concert experience and they will probably recount inhaling tons of dust. On the bright side, that’s better than inhaling mace, not to mention a small price to pay to see a performer of the highest caliber for free. Dan Deacon will never be a superstar like Drake, but attend one of his shows and you will remember it—for all the right reasons.
On Tuesday, the South Street Seaport descended into chaos when rapper Drake was unable to perform at a free concert due to overcrowding. The riots may have raked in headlines, but the real musical event of the day went down in Brooklyn’s Red Hook Park, courtesy of Dan Deacon. Its attendees experienced chaos as well, albeit of a different variety; namely, the transcendent chaos that ensues when a great performer ignites the energy of the crowd. Even the most restrained hipsters could not help but join in on the collective adrenaline rush.
As disgruntled Drake fans hurled chairs and received faces full of mace, those lucky enough to be at the Dan Deacon show jumped, clapped, crowd-surfed and had an all-around awesome time. The experience as a whole left more of an impression than any individual songs. The audience’s frenzy made it difficult to concentrate on individual melodies and instruments. Instead, everything blended together into one manic, synthesizer-drenched trip.
The sheer physicality of the music was overwhelming, defined by the band’s mastery of dynamics. Frantic, driving rhythms frequently shifted into quiet interludes before taking off again. The band delivered enough variations of this tactic to keep everyone on their toes, or, alternately, up in the air. I’ve been to shows with crowd surfing before, but I can’t remember ever seeing so many people held aloft at once. Suffice to say, there were some spectacular wipe-outs.
In addition to the standard practice of tossing out beach balls, Deacon had the crowd form a circle, at the center of which audience members joined an expert hula hooper for a dance off. Later, he reconvened the circle for a comparatively mellow interpretive dance (basically, Simon Says set to music). These breaks allowed the audience to rest before the glorious free-for-all recommenced.
It is to Deacon’s credit that he was able to maintain the crowd’s enthusiasm despite a considerable environmental hazard: raging dust storms. Well, perhaps that’s an exaggeration, but ask anyone to describe the concert experience and they will probably recount inhaling tons of dust. On the bright side, that’s better than inhaling mace, not to mention a small price to pay to see a performer of the highest caliber for free. Dan Deacon will never be a superstar like Drake, but attend one of his shows and you will remember it—for all the right reasons.