Daffy Duck’s Dad is My Best Friend’s Dad and Dylan’s Dad is Dan Deacon: A Review of Dan Deacon at Neumos on May 8th

I have a new favorite Deacon. When I saw Deakin (Josh Dibb) of Animal Collective way back in 2010 in a sweaty basement room of CU Boulder’s student center, I was left somewhat unfulfilled by his brand of depresso-acoustic whine folk (harsh, but that’s the only way I know how to describe it?). I had been anticipating the show for weeks and honestly wasn’t thrilled by Deak’s solo material, which to this day remains unreleased. To add to my disappointment, my 14-year-old self tried to catch a word with Dibb after the show to tell him my adoration for all things Animal Collective, to which I vividly remember him replying, “cool, I’m gonna go talk to those girls over there.”

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(Creds to Reddit for also finding Deakin hilarious?)

It stung in the moment, but no hard feelings Deakin, I may (hopefully not) have even done the same in your position. I salute you, Based Deak.

Oh wait, this is about Dan Deacon. Specifically, Dan Deacon’s recent Friday night show at Neumos, which, to summarize in a few words, was a good fuckin’ time.

I got to Neumos in time to catch the majority of Prince Rama’s set, but unfortunately missed the performance of Earth Universe, whose merch table promised a 100% increase in sexual energy for anyone who wore one of his shirts.

Finally, the cult I've been searching for.
Finally, the cult I’ve been searching for.

It was incredibly surreal seeing a band I hadn’t legitimately thought about or listened to for 5 years, but in a completely different geographic, emotional, and temporal space than the first time I saw them. That being said, Prince Rama was pretty much exactly as I remember them, sisters Taraka and Nimai Larson wailing and conjuring some freaky, psychedelic jams.

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I had heard that Dan Deacon was famed for his live shows, but honestly had little idea what to expect given that my only familiarity with his music was a few cuts off his newest album, The Gliss Riffer, as well as some scattered tracks from throughout his discography. He strode on stage, stocky, bearded, and brightly clad, and immediately began chanting “Daffy Duck’s Dad is my best friend’s dad and my best friend’s dad is Daffy Duck,” beginning a call and response with the audience. Before playing a single track he proceeded to do stand-up comedy for what must’ve been 10 minutes, and was actually surprisingly good at it. I can’t quite recall the subject matter (at one point he went on a tangent poking fun at audience members that had condemned themselves to the worst part of the crowd, where the stage wasn’t even visible), but if music gets old Deac might be able to rustle together a 30 minute Comedy Central Presents feature. I’d watch it for sure. In any case, he went on to play some tracks for us, most of them from The Gliss Riffer, with a fewer older songs mixed in.

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Throughout the night Deacon danced wildly, sweat dripping down his beard as he belted out live vocals over his electronic oddities. He kept the audience’s energy up by punctuating the music with more of his stand-up routine, and orchestrated several dance-offs in the crowd. As the concert began to wind down, he asked that all the audience members join hands, and told us to picture the person we loved most in the world. He then asked us to picture the last complete stranger we could vividly remember, and to comprehend that to someone, that stranger is the person they love most in the world. Ordinarily this might seemed contrived, but coming from Deac it was oddly cathartic and affirming. Exhausted, swaying through the pit of entranced fellows, I let Dan Deac lull me through his last few songs, and left Neumos profoundly contented. Thanks, Deac.


Dylan Gnatz // Vandelay Industries // Aspiring Gliss Riffer // KXSU Staff Writer

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