So, I didn't expect the night to go as it did. I mean, clearly this band was bound to be... interesting. Their photo on the concert's Facebook page, a motley collection of shirtless lads with kabuki masks who were giving the camera a good bit of face-time and a small mass of people all collectively losing their minds, certainly peaked my interest. Also, I couldn't help but see a bit of a resemblance to the Psychos from the BORDERLANDS video game franchise, a favorite of mine. Needless to say, my interest was plenty piqued.
For those of you unfortunate enough to not live near The Thirsty Hippo, it's a place made of two spaces. The front area is a cozy area adorned with several places to sit and enjoy their fantastic burgers, sandwiches, salads, and deserts. Along with this comes a good assortment of beers, liquors, and cocktails. Nestled in the corner is a somewhat small stage, though I should say "small", as this is when compared to the stage in the larger area in the back. This larger area is much like the front...except there are no tables and there's a massive mural on the wall of different aspects of the state of Mississippi. So, basically nothing like it, save for the dim lighting in both areas. Now, Daikaiju played in the front area. This will become readily apparent as to why this location choice made for a much more interesting show.
I have an unfortunate confession to make: I don't remember who opened for the band or even if there even was an opener. I would wager a guess, but I don't want to unintentionally offend any number of bands who may stumble upon this. So, we'll mention the headliners in question.
As I hoped, they appeared just as their picture suggested. Five shirtless, Kabuki-masked fellas got onstage, not saying a word. The crowd gathered closer and had grown to a pretty decent size, filling much of the small-ish room. People were clearly excited, some apparently following the band around on tour. Elbow to elbow, we all awaited their first notes. When they began, they hit the ground running (and how else would a band like this begin?). Their sound a sort-of "surf punk" filtered through a touch of "post rock" affectations, with all of the energy of a "hardcore" show. So, essentially, everything I could want and more, with a circle-pit and everything.
They grew more animated over time, with the two guitarists eventually beginning to prowl through the audience, all the while their guitar chords dragging behind them. I suppose they just assumed the audience would trip over them, or maybe they just didn't care. I saw the wilder looking one occasionally take a beer bottle from some people, sling around what little beer was left in said bottle in the air (raining beer on everyone in the area), then handing back said bottle. Then he came to me, letting me get a good look at (and smell of) him: he had a long salt-and-pepper colored beard, and hair that followed suit...except for on the top of his head; he had apparently stripped down to a sort of loin-cloth; he smelled fairly rancid. Rock-Man (that's his name, I later discovered) looked at my empty bottle, then at me, and we both shrugged. A few minutes later, he came back by, looked at my still empty bottle, then took it from me and threw it to the floor.
Not long after this, a sort of tribal beat began on the drums as they were both crowdsurfed, piece by piece, to the middle of the floor. The guitarists and bassist followed suit. So, in this new configuration, the two drummers were set up in front of me, Rock-Man was standing in a chair to my right, Secret-Man (the other guitarist) was standing on the bar on the other side of the drummers, and Pulse-Man (the bassist) was standing on a chair to my forward left. The concert had taken on a new intensity. Secret-Man began a solo, then jumped into the audience while playing. He was crowd surfing and continuing his solo when the owner of the Thirsty Hippo jumped in (literally) as well, also surfing the crowd.
All at once, Blast-Man (the drummer) apperated a bottle of lighter fluid and doused both drumsets in a rather healthy amount. Then, flames. Both drummers (I don't know what the other drummer was called, so I'll call him Other-Man) were now playing flaming kits. Rock-Man apparently liked this idea so much that he also decided to light his guitar on fire, then proceeded to hand said flaming guitar to one of the audience members beside me, then danced around for a bit.
Then, using a series of head gestures and lots of pointing, Blast-Man instructed people to lift up each part of his drum set into the air. So we did, a different person holding a different part, all while some of us held up the chair in which Blast-Man stood. He played like this for a bit, managing to stay on tempo and maintaining that energy, before he decided that this clearly wasn't interesting enough. So, he grabbed hold of one of the rafters over his head, swung up onto it, then hung off it like a monkey and started playing while upside down. By this point, the audience had become a bit frenzied, both energized and amazed by what we were all seeing. A couple of smaller mosh pits had sprung up.
Not long after this, the concert reached its endpoint. After a rather furious closer, there was one massive disharmonious chord that rang out. Each band member then handed off a different instrument to different audience members, apparently letting them play as the band just walked away, presumably out of the building and around to the back. The chord rang and rang, then the plain-clothes version of the band came out and packed everything up. The lights brightened and we all sort of collectively came to. Each and every person got leagues more than there money's worth that night, with people laughing and embracing, and being so absurdly alive in the couple of hours we had all just spent together. This was definitely one of my favorite concerts.
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