I saw Dismemberment Plan in Cat’s Cradel in Carborro NC last night, allegedly their farewell tour. I passed on seeing them before, but this time made sure I was going to catch them before they cash it in for good.
(Due to missing brain cells, I really suck at remembering song titles and band member names. Bear with me.)
These guys are awesome and a hell of a lot of fun. Their rhythm section is fucking incredible. The bass guitar and drummer were tearing the stage apart. Their guitar player is kind of like Primus’s…he’s kind of superfluous. Just adds a little spice to the mix, that’s about it. Their front man is a quirky funny guy who kept warming up to the audience and playing his little cheesemeister keyboard.
After they played 2-3 songs, they asked the audience for requests and continued doing so the rest of the night. Occasionally they’d get something really obscure from diehard fans who have every cut they’ve ever recorded. One or two they claimed they couldn’t remember, hehe.
Front man (Travis I think?) eventually sees a dude with a panama hat and asks to wear it for the rest of the show. While singing “You are Invited”, somebody hands him a cell phone. In between lyrics he says “Who’s this? Lindsay? Can’t talk right now, I’m singing.” He then kept the phone and sang to her for the rest of the number.
They had a industrial scale keyboard probably connected to radio tubes mounted in the middle of the stage, and occasionally the bass player and guitar player would takes turns manning the helm. I always like to see musicians show their ability isn’t limited to just one instrument. It’s a shame such a collection of talent is breaking up…presumably 3/4 of the band want to raise families while the front man is going on to other projects and collaborations. They just need to do like the Allman Brothers did and make their families tour with them and be their roadies and backup musicians.