I broke one of my cardinal rules last night.

Rule #1- Never wear the merch of the band you’re going to see. I hate this. I love learning about new bands through people’s t-shirts and hoodies. Obviously you like the band you’re going to see since you bought a ticket to their show. Don’t waste the opportunity to promote a band. Wear your friends’ shirts. Wear your new favorite bands’ shirts. Promote what you care about and what you want people to know about.

Rule #2- Never sit at a show unless you are going to an opera or musical. Shows are supposed to be high energy and make you feel something. How could you feel anything if you are constricted to a seat, can’t dance, and surrounded by strangers. When faced with the decision of expensive general admission standing room or cheap nosebleed seats, always spend the extra money for that general admission. You’ll feel more from the concert.

Rule #3- Don’t show up late to a show. I don’t care if you don’t know anything about the openers. Go early and support your local scene or the touring bands that are working their butts off to get some new fans. Don’t bug the venue or promoter for set times so you can pick and choose what you’re going to see.

Section MF3, Row N, Seat 13

That was my seat last night.

I hate paying for seated shows. I avoid it like that plague but there was no other option for the show last night and missing it was definitely out of the question.

Flight of the Conchords is a group from New Zealand made up of Bret and Jemaine. I obsessed over their TV show. I remember the first episode I saw and remember that feeling of being completely hooked. The TV show was hilarious and just about the life of this two man band. They seemed to always get themselves in the worst situations but always found their way out in some hilarious way.

The thing that really got me hooked was the music. It was musically great and the lyrics were absolutely hilarious. It didn’t matter if it was their song about Jemaine being a male prostitute in order to make rent or their song about getting a kabob with the most beautiful girl… in the whole wide room, their songs always made me laugh to the point of my cheeks cramping up.

I don’t think there was a single moment last night when there wasn’t a huge smile across my face. The second Bret and Jemaine took the stage I could feel this cheesy smile creep across my face. I instantly forgot that I was breaking my cardinal rule about seated shows.

The banter between the two men was exactly how I wanted it to be. Whether it was scripted or not, it felt genuine and was absolutely hilarious. It seemed almost too perfect to be completely unscripted but at the same time, these guys are comedians and this banter is what they’ve become known for so maybe it was completely unscripted and they are just that good.

Jemaine and Bret weren’t afraid to make fun of the crowd. A perfect example of this is when they were playing a new song that is a super long-winded story about…. well I really don’t know what it was about. The song seemed to go on and on and after each verse, the two men would then recap what has happened by just talking the crowd through it. After a few minutes of the song, you could start to notice members of the audience get up and go to the bathroom. By the time they all started coming back, the song was done but the endless flow of people did not go unnoticed by Jemaine and Bret. They quickly called the crowd out on missing this genius song and started retelling the whole story. I think it’s cute that they knew most of us started to tune the song out and truly just made a joke of it.

It was nice to see these guys play some new material because I truly never thought they would put any more material out but at the same time, I definitely enjoyed their classic hits more. Hearing the music from their TV show took me back to the living room in my dad’s house back in Des Moines, Iowa. I would watch the DVD’s of Season 1 of Flight of the Conchord over and over and over again until each image and each word had been burned into my mind. It was truly amazing to experience these songs live and, as much as I wanted to watch the two comedians on the stage, I caught myself watching the corresponding scenes from their show in my mind.

Within what s the lights turned on and I started walking towards the door to go home. It felt like they only played a handful of songs but when I looked at my phone, I realized they had been up there for almost two hours. Sadly, time had run out on my night of nostalgia and non-stop smiling.

I never thought I’d get the chance to see The Flight of the Conchords live. I got my chance last night and it was even better than I thought it would be.