This was the first summer that I stayed in Bloomington, and I didn't fully realize before how quiet the town would become. The streets and restaurants seemed sleepy, and all of the concerts that I attended have been half-full. Last Wednesday however, it felt like everyone was back in town again and it was practically true. Many people had come back to Bloomington to see Deerhunter, No Age, and Dan Deacon perform at Rhino's all-ages club. The show was atypical in that the artists did not play one after another, but instead played collaboratively and in what they called a round robin fashion.
Deerhunter started off the night with lead singer and guitarist, Bradford Cox pointing out the list of rules posted on the Rhino's wall.
"Number three: no porn, no nudity," Cox pointed out to the laughing crowd.
They then played two songs, which sounded a lot less like their idiosyncratic neo-shoegaze sound, and was instead a lot heavier.
After finishing two songs, they smoothly transitioned to Dan Deacon, who stood on a side stage, that was decorated with the glowing green skeleton that he always brings to shows.
Dan's sound hit the audience like a fist and fans immediately started jumping up and down, and waved their hands in the air. Strobe and rainbow colored lighting flashed over the crowd, which created the atmosphere of a rave.
It makes sense that this kind of feeling would be created for such a special show. All three artists seemed to exude a feeling of unity and closeness that the crowd then radiated to one another. It's the first show in a long time where I've felt connected to the other people around me.
After playing a couple of his usual upbeat, electronic songs, Dan Deacon gave the stage back to Deerhunter, where they then proceeded to play one of my favorite songs, "Nothing Ever Happened".
By this time during the show, the crowd had created a mosh pit and was going absolutely wild. If I hadn't been covering the show, I definitely would have joined in on the action. Everyone seemed to be having a great time and I've always wanted to crowd surf. Hopefully I will get to one of these days.
No Age played next and although I hadn't gotten into them when their album, Nouns was buzzing on the internet, they were my favorite act of the night. I can't remember the last time I had seen such a bombastic and fun, live act. Although the mosh pit started during Deerhunter, it definitely peaked while No Age took the stage.
After No Age had played a couple of songs, Dan Deacon directed the crowd to put their hands up and then put their hands on the person's head who stood in front of them. The crowd moved to the center of the room, and then he told them to think about a time when they had deceived that person. After the crowd lifted their hands from each other's heads, they formed a large circle and the lights were turned on. They all bent down one knee, as Randy Randall began his interpretive dance. Randall, who is a member of No Age, was called into the middle of the room and the crowd followed his every move.
Deerhunter and No Age each played again ,and then the theme of unity was continued. The crowd was again directed, this time to make a tunnel with their hands, which lead out the door, and eventually wrapped back into Rhino's. The crowd smiled and high-fived as they ran through the tunnel, and it was really nice to watch everyone having such a good time.
After the tunnel had exceeded it's length, the crowd dispersed and moved back inside. After everyone was comfortably back inside, members of the bands came together on the main stage and saturated the room with sound. No Age's guitar was placed into the hands of the crowd, as was Dan Deacon.
The No Deachunter was one of the most fun shows I've seen in Bloomington for a long time. I'm really glad I saw them when I did because just a few nights later Randy Randall fell and slipped while dancing, and dislocated his shoulder. They still played at Lollapalooza though!
-Katie
Photos Courtesy of David Ray
