Cuma 21 Mar 2008, 9:27
This was Jonathan Coulton's first show in Europe and hopefully the first of many. Quite short notice for him and for the rest of us, but it sold out and the seated venue was packed.
He started by getting "out of the way" Over There and followed by stating that it would be the last time he insulted the audience for the rest of the evening, which of course was a lie, evident by the constant mispronunciation of things like Z (particularly in Mandelbrot Set) and talking about his child's "stroller" which of course is a synonym of the British "pram." Not to mention his inability to understand a member of the audience with a particularly strong British accent.
But the insults were all part of the entertainment, and we were treated to JoCo's unique brand of geeky banter throughout the evening.
We were also lucky enough to witness the first use of JoCo's new… Tunarium…? Some sort of blinking electronic device which Jonathan programmed live on stage and then played Code Monkey with. It was quite exciting indeed.
Throughout the performance, laughter arose even before the hilarious lines we were looking forward to, and following them was even more laughter and cheers.
Other notable events include the cover of a Billy Bragg song, as well as the completely unexpected (even by JoCo himself, apparently) cover of Christmas song Do They Know Its Christmas, which of course was followed by a far superior Christmas song, Chiron Beta Prime, aided by an enthusastic member of the Jonathan Coulton forums, and his robotic voice.
We (yes, I said we) ended with Re: Your Brains - if I do say so, the line "All we want to do is eat your brains" was particularly well sung by the very suitable British audience (our accents are far more zombie-like than American accents in a mob if you ask me). We then proceeded to maul Mr. Coulton and eat his brains.
It wasn't over, though. After the gig was done, Jonathan came out and signed every single sign-able item that the fans wanted him to sign, including a wine glass and a lab coat taken directly from Skullcrusher Mountain.
All in all, a fantastic show and I look forward very much to more shows in the UK and Europe. I'm certain all else who attended also enjoyed it, obvious by the constant continuation of cheers and standing ovation at the end of the show. Well done, Jonathan. Well done, Zombies.