ImprovEverywhere

November 5, 2004 10:42 AM

Best.Gig.Ever.
posted by srboisvert (17 comments total)

That's pretty great.
posted by soplerfo at 10:57 AM on November 5, 2004

?
posted by Zurishaddai at 10:59 AM on November 5, 2004

The only way this could be cooler is if the band never finds out.
posted by sciurus at 11:08 AM on November 5, 2004

Awesome. Possibly soul-destroying if the band ever figures out why that show was the only one that didn't suck ass, but barring that existential sandtrap: awesome.
posted by cortex at 11:09 AM on November 5, 2004

Go to the "conquests" page; they found out about two hours after the page was posted. Apparently they think it's pretty cool. I probably would, too, given the tone of the piece (IE agents seemed to really like it).

Well, they seem to be having fun. Nobody's getting hurt. Though I'm willing to bet they're making a lot of people uptight...
posted by lodurr at 11:13 AM on November 5, 2004

Summary: "On the surface, the guys seemed almost freaked out by my eagerness at seeing them on the street. But deep inside I know they really loved us. Possibly feared us. But loved us."
posted by five fresh fish at 11:17 AM on November 5, 2004

OMG. "No Pants 2K4" is hilarious. So is "Mobeius."

I just might die laughing at "Ted's Birthday."

Brilliant.
posted by five fresh fish at 11:48 AM on November 5, 2004

God, I need to start a Portland chapter for these Improv Everywhere gents These are my people.
posted by Parannoyed at 11:48 AM on November 5, 2004

The "Meet Anton Chekov" bit is hilarious.
posted by robocop is bleeding at 12:03 PM on November 5, 2004

The only way this could be cooler is if the band never finds out.

i know the guitarist. i sent the link to a mutual friend but asked her not to tell him about it.

i think he might actually find it kind of cool though.
posted by goddam at 12:04 PM on November 5, 2004

Then I am relieved.
posted by sciurus at 12:08 PM on November 5, 2004

actually they know

i guess i know the singer/keyboardist too. he seems to be using an alias though.
posted by goddam at 12:12 PM on November 5, 2004

This is awesome. Sometimes when you go on tour, the cool kids bus just happens to open in front of the club just as you go on and things like this happen. The fact that this was orchestrated doesn't really change the fact that the band took advantage of the energy in the room and made hay out of it.

Good on them. I'm one part jealous, and ten parts thrilled it happened to a band that could handle it.
posted by chicobangs at 12:33 PM on November 5, 2004

That group is awesome; thanks for posting!
posted by evening at 12:41 PM on November 5, 2004

As I drove home from the “best gig ever” the night was so aptly summed up by our guitar player when he said, “that was as creepy and unsettling as watching someone get hit in the back of the head with a pool cue and their eye popping out and rolling into the corner pocket.”

So they knew something was up, but I think they show magnificent class in their response:

Like I’ve already mentioned, we are all solid people and were strong enough to see this for what it is, which is a rocking good time had by all that just happened to start as a joke.  We don’t care.  I play because I love to, and we were feeding off of it and it made for a great show. ... The point is though, our fire and energy originally comes from us, and then added in is whatever is going on around us filtered through Milo and our perceptions.  What happened at Merc was perfect, intrinsically.

Any good gig is a kind of mutual performance, and a willed belief in what you are seeing-- that great cycle of energy from band to audience and back. But it can't happen in the absence of something good, and it sounds like GOP rose to the occasion. I'll be checking them out.
posted by jokeefe at 1:05 PM on November 5, 2004

Oh man, I so want to be a member of the Improv Everywhere Troupe. What fun they seem to have. :) That's it. I'm packing up and moving to NY.

(Ok, I made that part up. That moving part. It's too cold up there. Brrrr.)
posted by dejah420 at 2:33 PM on November 5, 2004

Dejah420, that's exactly what I thought. About wanting to join them and about New York being too damned cold. I'm from back there, winter sucks ass.

I wonder if they're franchising?

This was really incredibly cool and I'm glad the band had fun. Its a really appealling concept. "Make a stranger's day". Nice.
posted by fenriq at 10:41 PM on November 5, 2004