The sun shines brightly down as locals scurry deep into their tunnels to avoid scores of spring visitors arriving for the annual "Cherry Blossom Bloodstone Festival." Welcome to Night Vale, Washington DC.
[intro music]
A week ago I went to a Welcome to Night Vale live show at the Lincoln Theatre and had the time of my life. I heard about their live tour a few months ago, but I generally ignore tour announcements because 1. few tours come to Minnesota 2. Even if they do, it's a usually still a long way to travel to get there. 3. Tickets and travel are expensive. 4. I don't know anyone who wants to go with me.This time, I noticed they were doing a show in DC, which I could surely travel to by Metro, and the ticket price was reasonable, so a Friday afternoon in February, I sat at my computer anticipating the moment tickets would go on sale, frantically purchased one of the last remaining seats even though they had been on sale for 15 minutes, and set out to wait.
"Wait, Julie, why were you so excited for this?" Welcome to Night Vale is one of the world's most popular podcasts, and for good reason. It's a story about a small desert town narrated by the dulcet tones of Cecil Palmer, the local radio station host. His smooth voice tells you local news and happenings, such as the appearance of the glow cloud [ALL HAIL] raining animal carcasses upon unsuspecting townspeople; the mayoral race between Hiram McDaniels, who is literally a five-headed dragon, and the faceless old woman who secretly lives in your home; or the curious goings-on at the dog park, a place dogs and people are neither allowed to visit nor acknowledge the existence of. As Cecil narrates, you find yourself nodding along, thinking "yes, the panic about antiques escaping from the antiques store makes sense, since antiques ARE such wild and unpredictable creatures." It's an odd, partially ridiculous, slightly sublime show, and it's found a fond spot in my heart. How could you not love that mild-mannered radio show host with an unexplainable past, Carlos the scientist who is always fine, and the revolutionary middle-schooler Tamika Flynn?
I love Welcome to Night Vale for taking me away from my mundane everyday life in one moment and simultaneously making me question the sanity of my own reality and why things are the way they are. Isn't it a fluke of language anyway that "antiques" means old things and not some wild animal?
But the Live Show. Woah. It was the best $30 I've spent out here in DC. I got there nice and early and got to watch people arrive: the mysterious hooded figures, the girl and boy scouts, the people with lab coats, with eyeballs painted on their foreheads, with antlers or axes on their heads, with bow ties, and just a general wash of purple over the crowd. The upper left picture shows how far away I was from the stage. I was about halfway back on the balcony. The builders REALLY should have considered making the balcony's rise steeper, because once you add in some people in front of me who couldn't sit still, and it made for a very neck-craning experience. I felt like I was watching the show through a pinhole camera the way I had to squint between people's heads and shoulders.
"But Julie, how does a podcast do a live show?" I'm glad you asked. The characters in the show, and subsequently their voice actors, have gained a cult status. Everyone's in love with Carlos the Scientist and everyone has strong feelings about Steve Carlsberg, so the audience gets very involved. The show is set up like any radio show: a couple of microphones front and center and a little area for Disparition, the background music guy to create a little ambiance. Mostly it was just Cecil and Disparition alone on stage weaving the story for us, with special guests popping in and out as the story progressed. Dessa was the show's "weather," or musical guest. Yeah, Dessa. You know, that Minneapolis-based rapper and singer who came to Morris that one time and gave a show. The audience was a bit suspicious of her at first, but I think she won them over. She came out and worked the crowd for a half hour before the show started, then performed another song during the show.
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| The bow at the end of the show. I think. It was hard to tell from so far away. |
And what a show it was. I refuse to give any spoilers, and it won't be recorded an made available to listen to until the tour is over, so it's better for you to just trust me and buy your ticket. The crowd was amazing, loud, and cheerful. I just had the best time and felt like I was a part of something for a couple hours, and that made it worth it.
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