Even with Dan Deacon’s widespread reputation for audience participation in his gigs, I could not have been prepared for a mass dance-off, followed by an interpretive dance lesson hosted by Steve.

I managed to catch Dan Deacon in Manchester, supported on their tour by Teeth Mountain and Future Islands, both from Baltimore US, and each complimented each other perfectly. Teeth Mountain played a set with a clash of north African/Indian inspired rhythm with rusty strings, and a danceable bass drum, which kept tracks jumping along quickly. The effect was a hypnotizing set with the psychedelic air of a hippy-drumming circle.

Future Islands came on led by an incredibly enthusiastic (borderline possessed) singer; while I could have sworn it was Jack Black, its more likely to have been Sam Herring. Together with bassist William Cashion and keyboardist Gerrit Welmers they make trancy pop, think Ariel Pink but less spacey, just simple uplifting music. Repetitive bass builds up to a chorus that breaks down with crashing pop riffs.

But, while the crowd did their best to show their appreciation, I still felt a little put out by the poor show. Barely half the room was filled with gormless looking spectators.

Just watching Dan Deacon and his ensemble setting up for their show, I could tell this was going to be something special. Miles of wires and plugs connected an excessive amount of instruments into the PA. Three drum kits, four keyboards, three guitars, a saxophone, xylophone, and three synth/xylophone amalgamations that I have never seen before. They even had their own light show with a green flashing skull- perhaps the most essential part of equipment. In the centre, surrounded by his ensemble, Dan Deacon held his mic and took centre stage behind his stand of tangled wires and synths.

The first song, Get Older, blew the skinny jeans of this crowd. Deep tribal drumming emphasized threefold was loud enough to raise the roof. With a smattering of xylophone and distorted organ noise, this song induced a (legal) dizzying high. Dan Deacon stood in the centre, lit up by a green flashing skull like some crazy scientist, creating a musical monster that tore up the venue.

Red F was another knee trembler. From his centre table Dan constructed a pure wall of noise, and composed the sounds of those around him- it was an electronic orchestra.

Dan Deacon: Hmm?

After Red F, Dan got off the stage and stood in the middle of the dance floor, encompassed by a huge circle of sweaty onlookers.

Bloody brilliant, who doesn’t love a dance off? And to 100pmh bass drum and distorted noise, so began the dance off, with the whole circle cheering them on, the two contestants battled it out. They looked slightly like when kids pretend to be airplanes, only a bit more seizure-y.

After the dance-off, Dan had a few more tricks up his sleeve to get his audience loosened up. With the circle still in tact, he stood in the middle;

(a fairly overweight, plain looking, middle aged man with thick glasses stepped forward. I couldn’t have picked a less likely looking guy. He was called Steve. He was to be the crowd’s messiah for the next half hour)

Steve had the moves. It was like that Fatboy Slim, Praise You video where the people perform the dance routine in the street. Everyone was doing drifty hand movements, pointing at the sky and twirling around at the same time. At intervals Dan would tell us to move one step closer to Steve, until all at once we were told to run forward and be the first to touch him… everyone ran and jumped at this guy. EVERYONE. Why I was so eager to be the first to touch this man I had never met before? Because it was Steve, that’s why. Dancing Steve. I was in the zone, and so was everyone else.

Next up was the human tunnel. You know when two lines of people stand facing each other and join hands, creating a little tunnel, and then people have to run through and join on to the end. When you are the last pair at the end you have to run through, underneath everyone’s hands to join the end again, so you have a moving line of people edging its way through the arena.

Dan Deacon:The entire crowd did this, it was massive, out the back door, past the security guard, into the street, winding its way round trying to find a way back in. but unfortunately the human tunnel got lost around the back alleys of Manchester Academy, and then the security guard came out and find us, and then told us to stop it- for health and safety.

For a long while Dan Deacon and his ensemble must have been playing in an empty room- until the crowd flooded back in, ushered by an angry security guard.

As I stop and look back now I wonder- was this just about the music anymore? The whole gig was more of an experience. After the first two songs I couldn’t tell you names of any more because I was dancing like a lunatic and trying to touch Steve. This is what every gig audience needs; a chance to break to ice with each other, and feel comfortable dancing however the fuck you want. Before Dan Deacon there was suppressed head-bobbing, his first song and a few people erupted into pogo jumping. But after Dan’s little escapades the entire crowd was going nuts.

For a brief few hours the audience bonded over a shared awe for Dan Deacon’s musical skills, some airplane dancing and a guy called Steve.

When the gig finished we walked out, paired off and filtered home.
If only life were more like a Dan Deacon gig.

Check out his music on Index of /mp3
And while you may have missed Dan and Future Islands for now, you can catch Teeth Mountain on tour in the next few weeks.