Quarterlifeparty

From most of the stuff I have read, Fischerspooner can be pretty polarizing;  you either love them or hate them.  I think their electro/dance style only increases that since dance music itself can be pretty polarizing.  Hey, some people don’t like to shake it.  That’s fine by me.  Add in Fischerspooners propensity for an elaborate/flamboyant/ridiculous stage show and you have a recipe for many a “meh” from the haters.  But…if you like fischerspooner, over-the-top-ness and all, you will probably love their show.

I have been a big fan of the band since their first album, but never got to see them live.  I had heard about their live show bordering on musical theater and this time it wasn’t any different.  As soon as we arrived we saw the stage was about twice as big as normal and had 3 large mirrors on wheels in the front.  We could see clothes racks on the sides of the stage for their many costume changes and everyone was pretty excited to see just what kind of tricks they would pull out of their hats.

There is no way i can encapsulate the entire show here, as it’s truly a spectacle to be seen in person, but I will say some things that i noticed through the show.  The entire set was choreographed with 4 dancers, Casey Spooner on the vocals, Warren Fischer doing the beats, and another guy who seemed to be controlling the video.  A lot of the songs were heavy on backing tracks, but Casey still sang on each song, even if on some they weren’t the primary vocal layer (which i was fine with, Daft Punk doesn’t have live singers and no one has a problem with them).

The mirrors were manipulated throughout the night into various configurations thus creating a new “scene” for each song, and particularly worked well when Casey was spinning them around during one of the songs (“Supply and Demand” i believe).  Also adding to the theater illusion was Casey and the dancer’s frequent costume changes, which seemed to happen for almost every song.  Casey started off in his costume which is on the cover of their latest album Entertainment, which i lovingly refer to as the “Neon Samarai”.  Other costume highlights included a matador jacket, a giant shoulder-padded jacket that was layered in shiny plastic strands, and his final costume, “crazy grey wig” and all, for the apropos “we are electric”.

It was everything I expected for my first Fischerspooner show (flamboyant, pretentious, etc.)  but also with something i didn’t expect:  fun.  Not just fun for the audience, but a feeling that they were having fun on stage and not taking themself too seriously.  At times it seemed that the over-the-top-ness of it all was actually poking fun at the whole idea of entertainment and I couldn’t help but laugh along.  Casey is a great frontman in creating these ultra-ego’s on stage, and in doing so becoming quite the enigma (not unlike morrissey).  Of course this makes it even more fun to watch.  I kept asking myself “i would love to see what he’s like in real life…or if this is all just a show”.

Also, i have to mention the dancers who were absolutely great.  Not only did they add to the show and create many different things to watch, but they were 100% into it.  They even showed footage of the dancer tryouts on the background screen, which looked much more intense than i would have imagined, during one of the songs as the their live video was super-imposed over the tryouts.  Similarly,  throughout the set there was footage of the entire rehearsals in the background synced up to the current song, which only added to the “entertainment” story the band seemed to be telling.

In the end this show probably “isn’t for everyone” (as they like to say), but then again, neither is Fischerspooner.  That said, if Fischerspooner IS your thing, then it’s a show not to be missed.

Note:  I didn’t have a photo pass, but BrooklynVegan has some great pics of their show in NYC.

Tags: , fischerspooner