Timetripping: Mostly European Tour May, 2010

It's been exactly two months since Flight of the Conchords had their epic tour finale in Hollywood Bowl in L.A. with the audience of 17,000 people. The venue was almost sold out.

The Conchords were supposed to tour Europe only, but to the US fans' great surprise, they added three more shows in Berkeley, Las Vegas and Los Angeles, thus it came "Mostly European Tour". The Guys didn't have any problems with selling their shows in Europe. The pre-sale tickets were gone within seconds after the sale had started and Wembley Arena in London (12,500 seats) was sold out after about 15 minutes.

Having two warm-up shows in Wellington, NZ and L.A., the Guys started their tour in Amsterdam, Netherlands. This was pretty significant, considering where the name of New Zealand comes from.

Jemaine and Bret with the support of New Zealand Symphony Orchestra
(or just Nigel); Amsterdam, May 3rd, 2010

Then, they headed to Dublin. That was a long journey, because Europe was under the constant alert about the volcanic ash cloud from Iceland and their plane had been cancelled. They were such a troopers that went by tour bus and gave the show on the same day.

From Ireland, the Conchords went to the UK where they performed in Manchester, Birmingham, Glasgow and London. I was lucky enough to see them in the last two cities. I still can't shake off the impression Jemaine and Bret made on me when I met them. And I don't want to. :)

Leaving the British Islands for a few days, FotC visited Norway, Denmark and Sweden. Their last show in Europe took place back in Wembley Arena in London on 25th May. Three days later the Americans had their feast.

A couple of words need to be said about FotC's supporting acts. For their two shows in Ireland, the Guys invited their old friend, David O'Doherty. In the UK, Eugene Mirman (their tv show landlord) joined them for a couple of shows just to be switched in London with Arj Barker (tv show Dave) who stayed with the band till the end of the tour. Kristen Schaal (tv show Mel) made it to support them in Hollywood as well as Eugene had his comeback in the US. It's worth to note down that at the two shows in Wembley Arena, the Conchords were supported also by their friend from New Zealand, Lawrence Arabia.

Two wonderful men who have been an important part of the FotC team for many years deserve a special paragraph. The first one is Nigel Collins a.k.a. New Zealand Symphony Orchestra. I can't imagine Jenny without his cello now. The second guy is Matt Shane, a sound engineer. Thanks to him we could hear every whisper of Jemaine and Bret in every corner of the venue.

With a new tour, there were new posters. Here's the Euro Poster Series. Have you got your favourites?

Highlights:

• Banters with 'on the road' stories, especially the Muffin Story. It was the only banter that was noted down on the setlists, so important it was!
  

• three new songs (check this entry); On the road was actually written on the road!
  
• sparkling jumpsuits for the song Demon Woman;

London, May 17th, 2010

• Korean karaoke with the multimedia;
• an awesome version of Inner City Pressure;
  
• singing Epileptic dogs in canon with the audience;
  
• Jemaine doing different accents for Albi;
• Matt's odd jobs;
  
• mendley of Too Many Dicks and Rock the Party;
• and of course, last but not least, Sexy Lady / Sugarlumps.

To sum up, I did some maths and here are the results, more or less:

7 countries

13 cities

21 shows

87,900 people (55,000 in Europe and 32,900 in the US)

Not bad as for the 4th most popular New Zealand folk band, ay?

Every show was unique and special. For more details, reviews, photos and videos check fan forums: FOTCmb (sign in first), WTF! and FOTCfanbase: 2010 Tour Archive.