Jonathan Coulton with Paul and Storm at the Lula Lounge in Toronto

As Jeff said last night, it was the best concert we've seen in several years.

It was the first time either of us had been to Lula Lounge. Nice venue, though the whole dinner seating vs regular seating was a bit confusing. The tickets say "Dinner reservations guarantee best seating," but this isn't necessarily true.

The best seats, IMHO, are the small tables right in front of the stage, perfect for couples. If you're a larger group with a dinner reservation, you'll be put in the booths against the far walls at either side of the restaurant. You'll still see the performers, of course, but this isn't the best seating.

The non-dinner seating is behind the small tables in front of the stage, and appears to given out on a first-come, first-served basis on the night of the performance. If I'm wrong about this, someone feel free to let me know. Also, those with dinner reservations still have to line up with everyone else.

It seemed to me that the dinner tables were given out on a first-come, first-serve basis (e.g. you don't have a specific table, no matter how early in advance you book), though I might be wrong about this. Also, be sure to confirm your reservation closer to the performance date! I called the day before and found out that they had NO RECORD of my dinner reservation. Fortunately they still had room for more dinner reservations, and our seating was good -- Jodi, James, Jeff and I had a table for four near the railing. After dinner, Jodi and I moved our chairs up to the railing so we had a better view of the stage.



Paul and Storm opened for Jonathan Coulton as well as performing a few songs with him in his set. They were HIGHLY entertaining, and their harmonies and arrangements were great, plus they had a wide variety of material. You can hear samples of their material on their website.

One of my favourites: Nun Fight. :-D

Also love the fact that they obviously knew the crowd ("Ok, now yell 'argh' PI times!" (pause as audience responds without hesitation) "Wow, that really WAS 3.14159265 times...")

Jeff liked them so much that he bought all three of their CDs plus one of their Evil Minion t-shirts.



Next up: Jonathan Coulton. I was sooooo excited to finally see him perform live, and I wasn't disappointed. I had a mental list of songs that I fervently hoped he would sing, and HE SANG EVERY ONE OF THEM IN HIS SET, WOOHOO!



His set included: The Future Soon, Shop Vac, Still Alive, Curl, Code Monkey, My Monkey, Birdhouse In Your Soul, Creepy Doll, I'm Your Moon, I Feel Fantastic, Mr. Fancy Pants, Skullcrusher Mountain, Mandelbrot Set, You Ruined Everything, Re: Your Brains, Betty & Me, First of May, plus a number of others I can't recall right now. Some of the songs were requests that people had sent him on Twitter after he had asked what people wanted to hear.

I love the amazing effects gizmo he was playing during Mr. Fancy Pants, and especially how he played it; he was obviously having a lot of fun. :-)

Jonathan called up Paul and Storm on several songs, and the arrangements/harmonies were fantastic. I especially enjoyed the rapport between the three of them.



To those who are seeing him (and Paul and Storm!) tonight: You're in for a treat.

Comments

[Technoshaman]

I'd forgotten about "I'm Your Moon"... did he dedicate it appropriately? I remember the first time I heard that one: ASH Productions did it at OryCon with Tony playing guitar, and dedicated it appropriately, to cheers from the packed room....

JoCo doth rock.