The Residents

[El Dingo]

Many thanks to DM for the gift of disturbing dissonance.

After carefully arranging a schedule of when and where to meet, I arrived an hour early and forced DM to drop what he was doing and meet me at the local pub.

We had a pint and caught up.

Not only did DM live a couple blocks from a very cool brewery, the show itself was in a revamped movie theater within walking distance. DM really scored on house location.

The Residents were in fine form, although the new costumes were a little 'off'. The guitarist and percussionist wore skull masks with dreads. We both were reminded of the old Ernie Kovacs 'gorilla' band sketch. The vocalist wore a semi-fat suit (at least I think it was a suit) and an old-man half-mask (STFU, hyphens are free). The almost naked body combined with a low-hanging thong and glittery coat-and-tails was pretty creepy.

The show itself was two hours of new and old Residents material with a video monologue projected on a weather balloon after every three or four numbers.

The audience were mostly hard-core fans responding to each song with vigorous applause and a standing ovation at the end.

For me the highlights were "Constantinople", "Harry the Head" and the opener "Rabbit Habit".

YouTube has several uploads of the European tour if you want to check it out.

Thanks again DM! (btw I did not get pulled over with the contraband you gave me on the way home).