Dan Deacon is a funny man – funny ha ha and funny peculiar. Many bands make a hash of crowd interaction, what with the clichéd exhortations (“Okay Dublin, make some noise!”) and their dismal efforts to get you waving your arms in the air. Not Dan Deacon. Like a lo-fi electronic revivalist preacher, Deacon knows how to work a room. This isn’t interaction – it’s full-on crowd participation.
From the show’s opening, where Deacon asks the audience to mimic riding a horse, appeals to headbang like Beavis and Butthead and freestyle “sassy as fuck” dance competitions, you know you’re not in Kansas anymore.
The highlight of the evening comes when he asks the crowd to form a human tunnel. As more and more people join in, the tunnel sneaks out the door and around the corner. It’s all great fun, with everyone getting into the spirit, whooping and cheering. It’s one of those gig-going moments you don’t forget in a hurry.
You mightn’t guess it to look at him, but Baltimore, USA native Deacon is a classically-trained musician, albeit one with a fondness for tinny beats and squeaking vocals – imagine Arcade Fire on acid playing Casiotone keyboards. His latest offering, Bromst, features heavily while older crowd-pleasers, such as ‘The Crystal Cat’ and ‘Wham City’, are greeted with something bordering on mass hysteria.
However, all the madness can make the music seem secondary. If Deacon’s to avoid being labelled a novelty act, he may have to rethink his schtick.