It was
tipping over with rain, it had been a long day at work, and I knew
that there was a bottle of wine beckoning from the bench at home.
It would have been so easy to stay in. But my friends Stephen and
Dylan kept banging on about a great band I should go and see: Village
of the Idiots. This was to be their last show ever, so off I went.
Formed in 2002, the band features the unstoppable Lucien Johnson and
improv percussionist Anthony Donaldson. With a dazzling amount of
members filling the stage, Village of the Idiots is sort of a bigband
with trombone, double bass, trumpet, keyboards, voice, guitar and
a turntablist.
They've played down at Happy before, but it was a real treat to see
them at a venue like Mighty Mighty, which suited them perfectly. And
I have to say, they are an amazing band. Playing alcohol-soaked, psyched-out
jazz with rambling, dramatic vocals, they seemed to play a kind of
concept set based on a macabre Edgar Allan Poe story. I loved how
the hail outside clattered menacingly against the skylight, and how
we could see sharp flashes of lightning. It was entirely appropriate
for the manic spectacle that the band put on.
The sensational finale saw the band pick up vocalist Chris Palmer
and chuck him in a coffin. Luckily, he still had his microphone with
him so he kept up his feverish stream of vocals from inside the box.
What a delight!
Reviewed
and printed in Texture Wellington (web magazine)
