Girl Talk’s Night Ripper has been my go to album for when I want to hear something upbeat but can’t decide on something specific. It’s like having your ipod on shuffle for the best parts of your favorite songs.

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I’d read good things about Dan Deacon, the opener, on Brooklyn Vegan, so I made sure to make it in time to catch his set.

So, it immediately becomes apparent that if I had any doubts that raver culture was making a comeback, they were now officially squelched. Perhaps the Love Parade had a small influence, but The Fillmore had been infiltrated with 18-21 year olds who were wearing ’80s neon and were obviously substituting their inability to purchase alcohol with something else.

My initial barrier to purchasing these tickets was that I thought it was an odd venue choice. This is a show that should be at Mezzanine. Both sets would go on to confirm my thoughts.

Dan Deacon, unbeknownst to us, plays in the middle of the crowd. Mind you, The Fillmore hold 1250 people. The only thing we could see was the trademark flashing green skull, and a blinking tripping Stimpy-esque cat. And we could kind of hear him. The sound was such an issue that he seemed to cut his set short. It looked like the 50 or so people around him were having a blast, but for the vast majority, the fun was lost on the crowd. It’s just not very inclusive. Mind you, this would be awesome at Slim’s or The independent, or Rickshaw.

youtube clip not from the SF show:

Girl Talk set up on the stage. One second into his set, the stage was swarmed. It was like the raver version of a mosh pit. I have no idea of the man is able to perform under those conditions. The table started inching forward and he was literally holding it on the stage. People were hovering over him from all directions, posing for pictures and jamming out. His laptop is covered in some kind of shiny cover, presumably to keep the dripping sweat from the crowd from short circuiting his performance. He played snippets from the album, but it was mostly new stuff. The set succeeded in making me anxious for his next album, but it wasn’t the most fun thing to experience live. While I felt compelled to stare at the stage, where I usually am witnessing someone work magic on a guitar in front of me, there really wasn’t much to watch. Except for the crazy exhibitionist crowd that crawled on stage, doing everything from simulating sex to showing off their attire (obscenely large gold chains, a duck hooded towel, and again, neon…). Perhaps The Hard Rock Chick should stay away from DJ shows…

another youtube clip, not from the SF show: