I thought I went to Dehd’s concert.
Indeed I did. I was hooked by the Chicago band’s latest and fourth studio album, “Blue Skies”, released last spring. I loved the unique mixture of anything artistic, retrofuturistic alternative rock, pop, some hippie, some flower movement, and some rockabilly. I regretted I missed their last sold-out NYC show in May, so I bought this ticket immediately after it was sold in June. I waited 4 months.
And Dehd was nice. Jason Balla was eye-catching energetically moving around the stage with a bright yellow guitar and aggressive vocal performance. Emily Kempf’s bass was more technical like progressive rock than I thought. Resulting the concert gave me the impression that Dehd’s music was rather closer to the combo of R.E.M. and Dream Theater than just alternative rock, though I think their influence was more maniac. Sometimes Emily and Jason struck cool rock poses while their movements synchronized on stage. And Eric McGrady got heavier strikes than my imagination with the simplest drum set in the music industry. Dehd’s minimalism expressed their original identity on the stage. Three members, short songs mostly less than 3 minutes, no stage set, instrumental setup by members themselves prior to the show (thanks Jason for smiling back when I shouted), simple vintage sound, and most of all, thrift fashion and instrumentals….that was a 21st-century underground rock concert time machined from 1991. Dehd also showed their non-binary side as seen in their videos with a drag performance at the beginning (by a male singer who was also the first supporting act singing “Take My Breath Away” in front of Tom Cruise on the screen. He was entertaining). And mosh! I never expected I would see a mosh pit at Dehd’s concert! Although that was smaller and friendlier than Anthrax’s concert. No complaints about the balanced setlist, either. Dehd played pretty much all songs I wanted them to play. One surprise was they did an encore which many musicians tend to skip nowadays, especially indie artists. That also reminded me of the early 1990s. The only con was I couldn’t hear Emily’s voice at the beginning. Obviously, a technical issue since I could hear Jason’s voice clearly. I also wished Eric sang at least one song…
Clockwise from left: Emily Kempf, Jason Balla, Eric McGrady
But Number One Popstar stole the show before Dehd.
Who was Number One Popstar (NOP)? I even didn’t know. I saw her occasionally on Dehd’s Instagram so I assumed she was in Dehd’s circle. But the name didn’t lie. She was the number one pop star. Only her stage set was a big screen of Google typing “HOW TO POISON AN AUDIENCE”. That wasn’t a lie, either. She blasted the addictive poison to the whole audience who clearly didn’t know her with unimaginable ideas from the opening.
That was my first time seeing a supporting musician start the show other than the stage!!
Where did she appear at the opening? The main floor. No matter how clearly I could hear NOP’s voice, I didn’t see her on the stage (I was in the front row). When I turned my head to the audience’s cheers behind me, NOP was there, rolling around the floor while riding over a guy’s shoulder hidden under the long dress. Most of the audience was full of curiosity with wide-opening eyes and smiles. My jaws dropped down wide! She blew everybody’s mind from the beginning…but she didn’t stop there even after finally being on the stage.
I mean…nobody could settle her.
She suddenly jumped to the middle-aged daddy in the middle of the front row and twined around him like a sexy lap dance. One man down. All within the first song!
While my mouth still opened wide, NOP made another surprise before the second song.
“Phone? Phone? Does anybody have a phone?”
She took my iPhone and started Instagram live with it!!
“Tripmuze is on the Trump rally!”
The second man down….yap, me.
Number One Popstar was non-stoppable. She used the whole venue as her universe. Not only limited to the stage but also the front row, the middle of the main floor, in the pit…everywhere.
NOP brought the whole audience into the addiction mosh pit. The empty floor quickly filled up like bees gathering to the dangerous flower under the spotlight. The notorious beauty kept whipping the audience with never-experienced entertainment, and each time, the audience was joyfully trapped with her sticky honey. Now NOP was playing her guitar just inches away from the same gray-haired daddy who was holding the microphone for her, and her tits were in front of the daddy’s rolling eyes. She then stole a boyfriend from a female audience and placed him standing still next to her on stage while singing a song about a “stupid boyfriend”. NOP patted around the guy’s body and even took his cap for her head. I looked at his girlfriend…she busted out laughing. Having a finale, NOP spread trash to the audience asking them to throw the trash back at her with booing upon finishing her “last” song, while also adding “I don’t have health care”. The audience did so to her while raising her right arm then she ran off. That was a crazy extravaganza show.
Everybody thought that was a fun way to end the crazy show and now was the time to anticipate Dehd…at that time.
An old, bald head janitor started cleaning up for the next show. He was picking up the trash, and the audience started the conversation or checking their smartphone. Nobody was paying attention on the stage anymore.
Without doubt.
???
Something was getting strange. After picking up a microphone, the janitor’s movement was getting comical and he started shaking.
The audience was initially just staring at him, then slowly realizing what was going on.
That was not he but she!
Yes, Number One Popstar!
When the cheers erupted again, Captain Picard look alike masked singer jumped over the fence which had already meant nothing for security after moving fast like Spider-Man along the front row, then dived into the audience while singing Third Eye Blind’s anthem “Jumper” (she was). She then caught another young guy in the center. Took hands, danced a bit, held each other…then a deep kiss! Passionately! He was a total stranger! Sexual harassment? No. Who would be offended by the rare opportunity of deep kissing with a beautiful singer even masked like a man? And that dude was addicted to her already. Another poison was just injected into him from her mouth. That was more rock n’ roll than the original.
You remember the theme of her show, clearly and proudly stated on the big screen.
“HOW TO POISON AN AUDIENCE”
Number One Popstar successfully achieved her purpose. My first time seeing that type of sensational encore…not even look like an ending! Her music wasn’t dynamic arena rock like KISS. It was comical pop-rock, more pop than Dehd, and very indie. But never dull, never boring. She didn’t need explosive pyros to blow out the audience. Herself was the fireworks of entertainment.
Her sensation didn’t stop. NOP randomly brought some fans, including the daddy, into the stage and let them airplay the instrumentals with the last song like a garage band. She made her “temporary” band members pop stars. Everybody on the stage was shining with their bright smiles. And she made the audience her new fan club members
I’ve been to countless concerts in these 35 years and never, ever seen that type of entertainment. Number One Popstar proved that technique sometimes didn’t matter to provide great entertainment. Honestly, it was hard to say she had a great technique. It wasn’t like she could sing like Celine Dion or her guitar play was like Sophie Lloyd. But just like technique isn’t really important to create a great punk album, nobody didn’t care about the technique to enjoy the Number One Popstar’s concert. She was still playing nice music to enjoy, anyway. Her artist name was risky to end up with being just a gag if she was just average. She could be a cheap performer without a full band on the stage if she didn’t have self-confidence. But it wasn’t coincident that the whole venue was fired up at a supporting act’s show which was usually challenging. Her performance should be well-planned, including her XXX-rated talks and naked body bodysuits. The continuous surprises of her unexpectable and unstoppable entertainment ideas succeeded to gain many new fans who didn’t know her at all until that day. The result: she was unforgettable. That was one of the best concerts by supporting artists with absolutely non-stereotype performance. Number One Popstar truly rocked the audience before the main act.
DEHD
OVERALL POINTS: 81/100
- Performance: ★★★★
- Excitement/Fire: ★★★★
- Vocal:★★★+3/4
- Instrumental: ★★★★+1/4
- Sounds: ★★★+3/4
- Song orders: ★★★★+1/2
- Stage setting+lighting:★★★+3/4
- Better than recordings: ★★★★
- Chemistry with the audience: ★★★★+1/4
NUMBER ONE POPSTAR
OVERALL POINTS: 90/100
Seriously, the points don’t mean shit. I wanna give 100 💯
- Performance: ★★★★★+🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
- Excitement/Fire: ★★★★★+🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
- Vocal: ? (well, 3 stars for calculation)
- Instrumental: N/A (ditto)
- Sounds: ★★★★★
- Song orders: ★★★★★
- Stage setting+lighting: ★★★★+1/2
- Better than recordings: ★★★★★
- Chemistry with the audience: ★★★★★+🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
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