Concert Review: Rich Aucoin Brings A Parachute To Elsewhere
Electro – Indie pop with a punk pizzazz! A karaoke-esque approach to performing! A LITERAL TECHNICOLOR PARACHUTE!!!!!!!! Rich Aucoin is a LOT, but in the best way. Heading to Elsewhere, I thought I was going to get a cool, chill show, but Aucoin makes you work for his performance.
Aucoin does not simply perform for you; you perform for him. He takes inclusivity to a whole other level that will leave shy-birds, like myself, taken aback, while others absolutely thrilled. Now, there is nothing wrong with commanding audience participation, and I have seen artists literally rise because they demand their crowd partake in their show like music equals, i.e. Flint Eastwood. Aucoin gives his body and soul to his songs, which takes a lot of work, but he takes on the audience as if they give him fuel. He, literally, surrounds himself with the crowd and put himself center so as to embrace its members like they were his energy tanks, and they love it. They look at Auction as if he was the first, human contact they have had in a long time. It is, in part, because he sets up such an unabashed glee and grief to his shows.
How grief and joy can live together, in one space, perplexes me, but Rich Aucoin shows that happiness is a response to sadness. His beats drop and drip like vines from an electro-jungle, while his voice swings upon them as if it was Tarzan. He wails and wilds through tracks, “Release”, “Four Years Ago”, ‘The Middle” , and “Let It Go”, which prove heartache is like a synth-wave; it crashes and recedes. Thus, track after track is another opportunity for Aucoin to solidify he is going to go through life as he desires: crazy, extra, and absolutely 100% party-animalistic. He leaps through songs “Are You Experiencing”, “Undead”, and “It” as if they were catharsis to how much hard work it is to be alive, but how lucky you are if you live. Maybe, that is why he included a parachute for his show?
A PARACHUTE!!!! As if the crowd was not jumping, dancing, and bashing into each other enough then the PARACHUTE came, and, suddenly, everyone was a kid again. People touched the draped colors as if a rainbow had reached within their grasp. While Aucoin moved through the persons and parachute as if he, himself, was a life-saver; even carrying a flashlight. Fabric went up and down, while inescapability set in to transform something that is supposed to save you into to something that covers you. The crowd laughed in a safety net that produced a simple, but magical effect; submission. For a moment, everyone submitted to how fun it was to be in a place where your inner child was asked to come forward to play with Rich Aucoin. For More Information On Rich Aucoin Click Here.
