The Four Eyed Horsemen Assemble In Phoenix
One of the most consistent streams over the year and change without live shows was the Four Eyed Horsemen. The four that make up this group are MC Frontalot, MC Lars, Mega Ran and Schaffer the Darklord. The once a month streams were easily top of the pile in production. The effort put into the monthly themes, green screen and real backdrops and costumes further reinforced this. They were something that I could rely on while Covid shut down live concerts that always gave me smiles, laughs and times to sing along in my living room. The openers they booked introduced me to a couple new artists like Lex the Lexicon Artist and Game Boy Jones. For all of that, I am very grateful to these guys. If anything else to express thanks for, this tour is the first and only show that has required both masks and proof of vaccination or negative test that I’ve attended in Phoenix thus far. With all of this combined, of course I jumped at the chance to see them as they came back to town on Friday over at the Rebel Lounge.
Anyone of these four could have opened this night, but the honor fell upon the man with perhaps the best produced parts of the streams, Schaffer the Darklord. Snapping on his trademark latex gloves and into the show we went. We saw the lighter side of the dark lord as he talked about how wonderful it was to see everyone in person again after the past year. He was considerate to ask if an all-ages show before he performed his cleanest with no swear words in it, yet dirtiest song “Do Sex.” Schaffer got everyone to enjoy themselves pawing the air and meowing to chorus parts of “Cat People.” You could see him cracking a smile as the crowd engaged in the dance moves inspired by the song.
There was the first of the night’s couple on stage collaborations, a benefit of being back in the same rooms, with MC Frontalot joining Schaffer for “Overruled.” It is a song that showcases the fun rivalry between the two and is all about Tom and Jerry. With Schaffer the Darklord’s set coming to a close, it was clear we were already off to a wonderful start to this Friday night.
Up next our DJ, DN3, introduced the one some hail as the godfather of Nerdcore, MC Frontalot. Not only did he look glowing to be in front of the crowd, his iconic headlamp seemed at its brightest with their return to the live stage after such a long break. Frontalot related to everyone how the internet he once loved has become something he hates as his introduction to “Internet Sucks.” He talked about how the west coast is best as he moved back and reflecting on Brooklyn going into “Stoop Sale.”
He got the crowd chanting along to “Tongue-Clucking Grammarian.” There was joy in Frontalot as smiles crept in during the chants of “Tut” through the song. Like Schaffer before, we got more teamwork to the stage for my first time catching “Apocolyptic Bards” live with Frontalot and Mega Ran. It released during the pandemic last year so the only way to watch was through a screen until now. There were smiles throughout the song from both on that stage. That MC Frontalot personality and charm continues to be such a fun delight watching him live.
Then there was MC Lars. I’ve been listening this this man for near fifteen years and never disappoints. This night indicative of multiple reasons why. He just exudes pure happiness when on that stage. Off stage too, one of the most honest and nice people you can meet. Not to mention, he is becoming the king of dad jokes now in his performances and I would be lying if I told you it didn’t make me laugh every time. Oh and because I continue to love his music to all the way to his most recent release, Blockchain Planet. Fortunate for me, his set consisted of a good amount of the new album.
Before Lars performed “Nana”, he told a very sentimental story about how digitizing old family movies of his nana spawned reflection on how amazing she was. I honestly expected a room of watery eyes after that. Additionally the new tracks birthed a running joke of him playing the “Fear of the Blockchain Planet” instrumental as fake outs to starting out actual tracks. He did this down to the last song which would be the Lars’ classic “Mr. Raven.” He played the instrumental and just smiled while he just let it run one more time. MC Lars will always be one of my favorite people and musicians as this set continued to reinforce.
Of course, our final act was only appropriate to be the man that hails from the Valley of the Sun, Mega Ran. If you’re keeping track, yes, this was the second time I caught him in an eight day span so I may use the word spoiled for that. I have to shout out how awesome it was to see him wearing a classic Sir Charles Barkley Suns shirt for this set too. Back for this set was the Barret replica gun arm from Final Fantasy 7, delivered from the green room by Schaffer the Darklord. From there, it was a mostly different set of songs in the night’s set. He touched on wrestling with rapping over crowd claps of “New Day Rocks.” We got to hear a few new tracks off the new “Live ‘95” album in the set.
Accompanying him on these, and the entire set, was our DJ, DN3, who turns out also producer on the new album. Plus, we found Nicho back with the trombone for two of the new tracks including “Tractor Beam.” Per Mega Ran, he had just walked in the door and jumped up on stage for the songs he plays on. Lars joined for another of the nights on stage collaboration off their album, The Dewey Decibel System. This was appropriately the loudest the crowd got with Mega Ran up on the Rebel stage. Blessed would be an understatement for getting to see Mega Ran once again and as frequently as I have.
However, this night could not end without an encore and it began with the Four Eyed Horsemen assembled on stage. All of them wore Adidas jackets with their names and a number on the back. They helped Mega Ran into his as they came on stage. The first song being “Rabbit Out A Hat.” It was just cool watching these four taking turns on the mic and sharing the choruses in front of my eyes. Then the final song would be “Watchmen” for a wonderful bow on a night of smiles and Nerdcore. This show most certainly left me smiling on my way home.
