#ben obrien

Dan Deacon, Prince Rama and Earth Universe @ The Church 4/11/2015

It can be super hard for me to explain why I like certain kinds of music. Dan Deacon and Prince Rama are big “WTF”-targets to anyone who’s not familiar with the sound… or the sights. I usually can’t listen to anything so obnoxiously poppy, cheesy and cracked-out around other people without feeling extremely self-conscious, like I’m the only person who’d enjoy that kind of thing. Although I try to avoid making myself look like the biggest nerdy loser on the planet, tonight, it was inevitable. I had to bring a classmate (a quiet, go-with-the-flow kinda gal) to with me to work on a video shoot (amazing product coming soon). 

I worried about leaving her to the dogs in the sold-out basement of the Church, and as a sweaty, dirty mist rose in the air. I thought about how I should have brought her a pair of ear plugs to save her from the piercing sounds of the speakers, that way at least her hearing would be saved, if the shifty shelf that held the speakers didn’t crush her first. NOT THAT I WANTED HER TO BE CRUSHED! It was just a possible fact of life. And it would have been all my fault.

Eventually, I forgot about my worries and totally sank into the crushingly euphoric sounds and lights brought by Dan Deacon, wishing that it wouldn’t end.  There was a boy who might have been like, 10, who was up there with Deacon singing into the mic, which was distorted to produce a super low-pitched sound. And then he lead the crowd by dancing on the stage. Seriously, the happiest moment ever, and best advocacy for more all-ages venues. There was no room to be worried.

Aaaaand it turned out that my classmate loved the show, and thought it was the most amazing thing that we talked to some of the performers afterwards. It couldn’t have been a better night. The most energetic, open and hilarious group of touring artists I’ve seen yet.