Photos by James Nagel // Written by Molly Kish //
Dan Deacon //
The Fillmore – San Francisco
January 29th, 2016 //
The man, maestro and frenzy-inducing frontman Dan Deacon returned to the Bay Area last Friday to take over a sold-out Fillmore.
Following our coverage of Deacon’s ever-growing fan base over the past few years, we have documented several of his intense performances at both mid-size venues and large-scale music festivals. With the release of last year’s critically acclaimed Glass Riffer — escalating not only Deacon’s complexity as a musician, but also his reputation as a major player in the experimental and electronic music scenes — we had the opportunity to see him this time in one of the West Coast’s most historic theater’s, at capacity.
Regardless of space or context, a Dan Deacon show is unlike any other, currently selling out spaces of such magnitude. At the same time, the venues Deacon chooses to stage his unique, interactive performances plays a huge role in an audience’s translation of his music. So, who better to give us some perspective on Deacon’s latest SF show than the members of a sold-out audience? Check out our crowd responses and photo gallery below.
Did you go to the show? Leave your thoughts in the comments section, and the best answer will receive a pair of tickets to one of our next giveaways.
“It appeared to be a tougher task for DD to pull off his crowd antics in a bigger space than usual. The only engagement game that really worked was the high fives one. But a sold-out house was as enraptured as ever, bouncing and smiling along to the hyperactive, comedic bliss of a genius musical madman.” – Mike Frash, 33
“The show did not live up to my high expectations built on tales of invigorating and complete crowd participation. It seems The Fillmore was too large of a venue for those on the perimeter to see and engage with the activity of those folks centered under the disco ball. I got a taste of coordinated crowd movement when each side rushed through each other, palms up and open for high fives.” – Julie Mullen, 30
“As a first time ‘Dan Deaconer,’ I was pretty mesmerized by how the show was set up. Using the power of the crowd to unite one another was a fun and unique experience you don’t get from every show. I would say it was a blast.” – Trevor Laehy, 27
“Without fail, Dan provides magical and mind-bending experiences to captivate his audience and bring people together into one harmonious, bad-ass dance circle.” – Danielle Mansfield, 30
“Dan Deacon is epic. He has that rare ability to emotionally tie a crowd together: to one another, to the experience and to the music itself. He’s brilliantly creative and weird, and you can’t leave a show not feeling stoked to be weird, too!” – Roxanne Mansfield, 25
“Dan Deacon at The Fillmore was an electronica- and light-fueled dance frenzy where friends and strangers were free to get down and get weird.” – Amy Lightstone, 33
Leave a Reply