Jemaine Clement and Bret McKenzie came from New Zealand a decade ago to bring their folk-comedy duo to HBO for two seasons of Flight of the Conchords. But after the series ended, the two went their separate ways, Clement acting in movies (Dinner for Schmucks, Rio), McKenzie making music for movies (Muppets, Muppets 2). The small screen may be behind them, but thankfully the two have reunited and re-taken Flight. Their tour came to New York’s Central Park SummerStage on Sunday, July 24th.
First things first: Rumsey Playfield in Central Park (QRO venue review) was packed. The line to enter extended well down the park, and inside the loudspeaker asked that people stand up, so that everyone could get in, and to “not take up more space than entitled to.” Considering that the television show & group have been gone for more than five years, and that they’d played Brooklyn’s Prospect Park Bandshell (QRO venue review) four days earlier, it was impressive that Clement & McKenzie are still such a draw.
Opening the set was fellow Sub Pop Records comedian Eugene Mirman (QRO interview). No stranger to the Conchords, as Clement announced to the crowd from a secret place (“The excitement is palpable; I’m palping it”), Mirman had played their landlord Eugene on Flight of the Conchords, Gene on Bob’s Burgers, and Dr. Eugene Mirman on Aqua Teen Hunger Force (“You don’t know who I’m talking about – yes you do…”). His final show of his tour with the Conchords, and playing at home, it was also special because it was his forty-second birthday (with which the crowd sang “Happy Birthday”). The alt-comedian riffed on Siri (making it say ridiculous things), bathroom signs that he’d made, his questions to ‘Ask a Pastor’, the ringtones he made for his album, I’m Sorry, You’re Welcome, the lawsuit on him from the ‘official’ Digital Drugs, and showed a video from his Comedy Central pilot, Eugene TV. While a few of the bits were familiar to his loyal NYC fans, it was mostly new material, and definitely winning.
It was a little hard to hear Mirman at times, as the beautiful outdoor space naturally doesn’t have walls to bounce sound off of, and it being a packed standing room concert, there was noise from the crowd. That also hurt Flight of the Conchords somewhat, as one of their main draws is their hilarious between-song banter, which can get quite extended (press were told only to shoot the first two songs, not the standard three, but that two would still take fifteen minutes; of course, your correspondent and the house photographer – the only two photographers at the show – were kicked out of the photo pit during the second song…).
Still, Clement & McKenzie charmed the crowd. They asked at the open of their set for people not to take video, as some of the songs were brand-new and they weren’t that good at them yet, plus some of the songs were old and they’d forgotten them. Clement described their relationship with the audience as like that with a lover, and like with all of their lovers, they asked not to take video, “It’s more about the live experience.” They also introduced themselves as the biggest band in New Zealand – not in fame, but in terms of members, as there are a lot of one-man bands down there, like “John”, Moby cover artist “Toby”, and “Bret” (McKenzie used to be in Bret, but left after creative differences, later rejoined, but had always like the original line-up better). The limited members of New Zealand musical groups came up again later, when they introduced the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra: Nigel (on cello).
There were a lot of new songs, comprising almost half the set. What was interesting this time was that, unlike when the TV show was on, the crowd didn’t know the songs beforehand. Flight of the Conchords’ last release, I Told You I Was Freaky (QRO review), was marred a bit by all the songs already being familiar from the show (and release as singles), something that can especially hurt with comedy. But Clement & McKenzie were fresh and new with such pieces as openers “Chips and Dips” (a funk number about how the duo put on a killer party with said killer snacks, and “use coasters please”) and “Father and Son”, where Clement sang to McKenzie as a father to a son, which they made believable by putting them both on the jumbo screen, but making the ‘son’ McKenzie beneath & smaller than the two years older ‘father’ Clement. New piece “The Ballad of Stana” was an extended country number of a character so bad ass as to being named an anagram for Satan, or “Satanagram.”
But there were also old songs. Being in the run-up to the release of the next record, the record before, Freaky, got a shorter shrift than their self-titled first (QRO review). Clement & McKenzie went sexy with Conchords’ “Foux da Fafa” and “The Most Beautiful Girl (In the Room)” early on, later mixing Conchords’ rap “Mutha’fuckas” with Freaky’s “Hurt Feelings” (of a rapper) – with a few lines of Jay-Z’s “Empire State of Mind” chorus in between. For Conchords’ “Carol Brown”, instead of McKenzie singing the parts in the song by all of Clement’s ex-girlfriends – something Clement didn’t care for – they brought on the fellow New Zealander singer, but a female, Kimbra (QRO photos of Kimbra at Central Park SummerStage). Of course they did early classics “Robots” (with “futuristic lighting” – noting that the song’s line about “The distant future / The year 2000” was written a long time ago) and the sexy “Business Time”. Really special was Conchords’ “Bowie” – especially as your correspondent ran into Tilda Swinton in the crowd just before; the actress of the recent, final Bowie videos, agreed that she wanted to hear “Bowie”, as she got away from this annoying fan…
Other choice banter included their banana story, a classic rock ‘n roll story that they always told at a certain point in the set, noting the fancy people with wine to the side in a box, McKenzie standing in front of the jumbo screen showing him for “infinite Brets,” disavowing the “Go fuck yourself” line in “Stana” (“That was our American selves…”), and more. The encore return began with the new “Busdriver’s Song”, where McKenzie took the crowd on a tour of the local town (such as the new bridge, which had replaced the old bridge, which had previously been known as the new bridge). But then Clement & McKenzie got back to their party rhymes with “Too Many Dicks (on the Dance Floor)” – though they did it in the “Dylan version”, bad voice impression included, that they had done two days earlier at Newport Folk Festival (QRO photos) – “Hiphopopatamus vs. Rhymenocerus” and “The Prince of Parties”. Yet they closed with a new from the medieval ages (when Clement asked for “medieval lights,” they were just all turned off), “1353 (Woo a Lady)”, which ended with Clement & McKenzie doing dueling pan flute dances at the front of the stage.
When Flight of the Conchords series ended and Clement & McKenzie moved on to the big screen, separately, it was easy enough to think that the band was over. But you can’t keep a good Conchord down. There’s probably no new TV episodes – can’t happen with excellent manager Murray (Rhys Darby), and Darby is currently busy stuck on a deserted island on TBS’ Wrecked – though if The X-Files can come back, who knows (Darby did steal the show on that, too…)? But a new album is definitely in the works, and Flight of the Conchords are back on the road.
