I Just Read About That…

[ATTENDED: May 2, 2024] TWRP

My son and I saw TWRP last year.  We had actually gone mostly for the opening band Magic Sword.  But I figured TWRP were going to be a lot of fun.

TWRP were once known as Tupper Ware Remix Party (TWRP is much better).  They are from outer space (and Canada).  They are also from the 1980s (and the future).

They are a foursome. In order of the below photo they are guitarist Lord Phobos, bassist Commander Meouch, keyboardist and vocalist Doctor Sung and drummer Havve Hogan.

Last year’s show was so much fun that I was really excited to see this year’s show.  I got a ticket for my son but he had a final exam at 8:30 the next morning so he (wisely) stayed home.

Last time, Doctor Sung told us all about their high tech new stage manager, Grobb.  Grobb appeared on the side of the stage in a circle which previously said IBS (in the IBM logo style).  Grobb looked like a psychopathic Teletubby as he smiled and talked to us.

Grobb was back again for this tour which was all about crypto currency.

I recalled enjoying the show so much last time but thinking that I would never really listen to their music as recorded.  Their music is really disco.  Some of the basslines that Meouch played were full on disco riffs (hard to play in a full costume, I’m sure).  There was lots of heavy snyth and Doctor Sung sang with a vocoder most of the time.  It was such a weird melange of music, but it works really well live.

Meouch and Phobos are fantastic musicans (Meouch’s basslines are absolutely top notch).

They have a new album out that they were touring (I hadn’t listened to it and I didn’t care), and they opened with two songs from it.  They sang about how they had Content!  So much content for us.

Then they played a few tried and true songs, including the great melody of “Typhoon Turnpike / Hidden Potential,” which Doctor Song introduced by noticing how much potential we all hid within us.

A really fun song was “Atomic Karate” in which Doctor Sung showed off his (very impressive) athletic skills and even wielded nunchaku.  I loved it last time and I loved it even more this time.

Throughout the night, Grobb was brought out to talk about the new social media experiments that he was running.  This is where the crypto coin concept was mocked.  TWRP may (or may not) have a membership card of some sort (some people up front did have them).  And Doctor Song said it was loaded with crypto.  Doctor Song had to pay (they’re just microtransactions, no big deal) to play the next song.  And the next.  And soon, he was out of money–having to borrow a card from the front row.

After two new songs, they played VHS, which was the first song they played last time and instantly made me like them, so I was glad to hear it again.

After a great rendition of Superior Moves, they played the delightful Body Image, a body positive message which was nice to hear.

After playing this song, Doctor Song was informed that he had run out of credits.  So, they decided instead of playing one song, they’d play a whole bunch (as a medley).  I suspect this medley was a huge moment for old school fans as it featured six songs from their earlier albums and EPs.

During  the social media parts of the show Grobb showed some “comments” from users, most of which were very unflattering to Doctor Song. And then one from “Pam” who said “It’s my birthday!”  It’s not about YOU, Pam!

It turned out that Grobb decided to let the audience decide about Doctor Song’s fate.  If he would stay with the band or get fired.  And the judge of the contest would be Ninja Brian from Ninja Sex Party.  (I didn’t know who Ninja Brian was and had no idea about the amount of times TWRP and NSP had played together and with each other, so this joke about Ninja Brian was yet another Easter Egg.  Also, Ninja Brian is Trey Magnifique, so that made a TON of sense.  Ninja Brian came out and gave everybody the finger (I guess he;s usually a bastard?)

The vote was whether to have Doctor Song fired (people voted no to this) or to have him stay in the band (people voted yes!).  Then Doctor Song revealed that if he was allowed to stay it would mean a promotion and he would probably go on to do solo work.  So, ultimately he was fired.

After the encore break, the three remaining guys came out in Gold Capes!  And Phobos led a cheer about Gold Capes.  Apparently they had all sold their Grobb crypto and made a ton of money.  Then Doctor Song came out, wrapped in a garbage bag and acted like it had been years since he had seen the others.

And so for old times sake they played Starlight Brigade (which I had seen) and Synthesize Her (which I hadn’t).

It was a great show from start to finish.  Amazing music, amazing musicians, really funny props and story lines and a terrific production value.

I would have loved to stay for merch but the line was HUGE before the show and was equally HUGE after the show.  And since  they had played until very late as it was, I decided to just blow out of the venue and get home.

I wish my son had been able to come as he would have enjoyed it a lot too.

I’m sure they’ll be back!

 

2024	2023
Digital Nightmare ♣	Birth of Grobb ©
Content 4 U ♣	VHS *
Bright Blue Sky ♥	Bright Blue Sky ♥
Typhoon Turnpike ⇔  / Hidden Potential ⇔	Polygon ♥
Atomic Karate £	Only the Best ∏
Dream Vacation ♣ / Ladybug ♣	Typhoon Turnpike ⇔ / Hidden Potential ⇔
VHS *	Atomic Karate £
Only the Best ∏	Superior Moves ♥
Superior Moves ♥ / Body Image £	Summer Everyday *
Polygon ♥ / Japanquest ½ / Ladyworld £ / Life Party ⊗ / Interstellar Strut ∇ / Strike a Pose ⊗/ The No Pants Dance ∇	Have You Heard? ©
Firewall ♣	Starlight Brigade ⊗
encore	encore
Starlight Brigade ⊗	Terraform ♥ (with Magic Sword)
Synthesizer Her ⊗	All Night Forever ⇔

♣ Digital Nightmare (2024)
* Friends of  the Blues (2023)
© unreleased/live intro (2023)
♥ New & Improved (2021)
∏ Over the Top (2020)
⇔ Return to Wherever (2019)
⊗ Together Through Time (2018)
£ Ladyworld (2017)
½ 2nite EP (2015)
∇ The Device EP (2012)