I Just Read About That…

[ATTENDED: February 6, 2026] Dan Deacon 

I saw Dan Deacon three years ago and it was one of the most fun and uplifting shows I’d ever been to.  I knew I’d see him again and I planned to drag my wife along with me.  I knew that she wouldn’t really like the music, but I thought she’d really enjoy the experience.

After the last show I wrote

I would absolutely see him again, even if I need to wait another six years.

So it was almost 4 but it did take a while.

On the way to the show I told her that all of the things that I usually get mad at during a show don’t apply here.  People can talk, they can push, then can block my view.  It really doesn’t matter.  And, wherever we start it won’t be the same place when we’re done.

She seemed thankful for this primer and knew that this was going to be a very different show.

I had genuinely hoped that Dan would come out right after Moon Bounce was done (who starts a show at 9PM these days?).  Especially since Moon Bounce’s set was 30 minutes.  But he waited until 10.  Unlike last time, he had a live drummer, which was totally unexpected but a lot of fun.

He also took advantage of the venue’s video screen.  I thought he might project trippy images, but he explained that he had been meaning to make something but he didn’t.  So instead, he played a Phish show from Saratoga Springs.  It was so funny to see the guys from Phis playing behind him.  But he was thankful to them for putting out entire shows (2 hours) for free on line with no ads.

And then he started his music.  And it was loud.  I had intended to bring earplugs like always, but with the parking problem (and trying to find a reasonable spot) I forgot.  Dan’s music is repetitive and dancey.  He also sings and usually modulates his voice so that it’s insanely high pitched.  Which is bizarre but somehow even more fun.

And wow do people love him.  Tonight’s show was sold out and people were talking to him like they were best friends–it’s been too long, etc.  And I’d say for a Dan Deacon show, it’s either once is enough or you want to see him every time (like Moon Bounce).

Deacon is an unlikely electronic music hero, but hero he is.  He is heavy (he joked about how he should have gotten in shape for this tour), balding and wears glasses.  But he’s got a great sense of humor and an amazing gift for music.  He has a college degree in electro-acoustic and computer music composition.  And he has played in all kinds of bands throughout his career (from ska to grindcore).   But it’s his electronic music, often with his voice pitch-shifted to beyond cartoon level, that makes the night.

Dan wants crowd participation and interaction at his shows.  On four separate occasions, he divided the room in half and had the two sides of the room interact in one way or another–in other words, not looking at him at all.  There were lots of jokes because Deacon is all about having fun–sweaty, grooving fun, with your closest strangers.

He opened with the same two songs as last time (although I didn’t know it at the time).  But I did recognize the melody and how much Become a Mountain sounds like Mercury Rev.  Like last time, it segued into

the insane high pitched vocal mania of “The Crystal Cat.”  It’s funny to think of this guy, who could be your dad, bopping around, waving his arms like a wizard and conjuring up this wild music.

Then he prepared us for a dance off.  The crowd was asked to create a circle and anyone from the left side was to dance like we didn’t live in a fascist regime on its decline and the right side was to dance like dogs wearing hats.  Change Your Life (You Can Do It) started with the first two people dancing like a sassy Tweety Bird for ten to 20 seconds and then they tagged in someone else.

We had backed up and were now in a new spot for the next part of the show.  It was kind of a bummer that we couldn’t see the dancers even though he asked the people nearest the dancers to kneel down.

The next song was Learning to Relax and my wife said she had to move to the back because we were right by the speakers and it was just too loud for her. I got it, but she told me to stay where I was, so I did, and it was a bummer because when he played the song after it, Arp, he asked two people to create a tunnel with their hands.  He said the song was 15 minutes long and wasn’t very good.  Well, no, it’s good, it’s just….  He laughed at himself.  And then started the four parts of Arp.

One by one as people walked through it, they would continue the tunnel.  And it was to go out of the room into the adjoining room (The Black Box) and then come back.  He said ideally everyone would go through the tunnel and the only people left in the room would be the band and the people who were charging their phones and wishing they weren’t there.

So I went through (with the cane) and it was a lot of fun with people being very happy for me–it was so was so uplifting and joyful.  And since I had waited so long I walked all the way through and back to the stage (almost) and then continued towards the bar and exit in the back area.  But since my wife wasn’t near the entrance of the tunnel, she wound up not going through it.  Bummer.

He played two songs when I was in my new spot.  Snookered got a big reaction from the crowd, with a lot of people singing along.

And then he introduced a new song (unreasonably long, he said) The lyrics were about missing someone.  But for this he wanted two dance captains to come out to the center of the floor.  He knew two old friends who were in the audience and he selected them.  Dividing the room in half, he had each captain do a dance while facing their half.  And everyone of that half should follow that leader’s movements (which should be slow and easy to follow).  I was too far back to really see what the leader was doing but everyone in front of me was waving their arms in unison which was really fun–especially since the other side was doing something different. Every minute or so, the captain would switch out with someone else.  Just good fun.

Dan mentioned the scene in Revenge of the Nerds where Poindexter gets high and asks if you’d rather live in the ascendancy of a civilization or its decline and he said, based on what I know now, I think ascendency.

He started another song and I decided to see if I could find my wife.  I had texted her my new location but she didn’t get it.  So I headed to the bathroom area and there she was.  We chatted a bit had some water and headed to the back of the room for the final song.

He asked if the crowd knew about the wall of death that you see at Scandinavian metal shows where people have much better health insurance than we do.  So instead of slamming into each other really hard, we’re going to do a “wall of life.”  When the song starts, everyone put up their arms and run at each other high fiving everyone that you see.  The song was “Feel the Lightning,” which is what he ended with last time.

We enjoyed watching everyone running around high fiving each other. And that was that.

It is such a joy-filled show.  The audience is super friendly and the vibe is one of us all being in it together.  My wife said she enjoyed the show very much, but she wished she liked the music more.  Which I understand, Dan Deacon is a weirdo to be sure, but all of his weirdness goes towards giving people joy.  And it’s hard to beat that for 90 minutes.

I don’t know if she’d eve go see him again, but I’ll bet if she does she’ll want to bring a friend.

2025	2021
Become a Mountain ⊄	Become a Mountain ⊄
The Crystal Cat ‰	The Crystal Cat ‰
Change Your Life (You Can Do It) [dance off]	Paddling Ghost ß
Learning to Relax ∝	Learning to Relax ∝
Arp I: Wide Eyed ⊄ [human tunnel]	Snookered ß
Arp II: Float Away ⊄	Wham City ‰
Arp III: Far From Shore ⊄	Change Your Life (You Can Do It) ∑
Arp IV: Any Moment ⊄	Arp I: Wide Eyed ⊄
Wham City ‰	Arp II: Float Away ⊄
Snookered ß	Arp III: Far From Shore ⊄
new song [I Miss You] [human mimicking dance]	Arp IV: Any Moment ⊄ [human tunnel]
When I was Done Dying ∝	Sat By A Tree ⊄
Feel the Lightning ∝ [“wall of life”]	When I was Done Dying ∝
	Feel the Lightning ∝

⊄ Mystic Familiar (2020)
‰ Spiderman of the Rings (2017)
∑ single (2016)
∝ Gliss Riffer (2015)
ß Bromst (2009)