Tonight was the Daniel Johnston show at The Mod Club. Ever since I saw the documentary The Devil and Daniel Johnston, I have been enamored with his story, his art, and his music. I remember watching it and being so incredibly sad, that someone who is obviously a genius suffers from the mental disorder that he does. All he wanted to do was make art and love, and he was sort of shit on in both arenas. But thankfully, some people out there saw that he was great, and different, and needed to be heard despite his tumultuous existence in this world. And I am thankful that they did. Because in my opinion, Daniel Johnston is one of a kind.
It was an early show tonight: the doors opened at 7PM. There was an opening band, so we figured we could get there by 8 or 8:30PM and be okay. No such luck. We arrived at around 8:30 and Daniel was already 15 minutes into his set. Bummer. But Dave and I rushed right up to the balcony area and found an alright spot as the place was packed.
In typical Daniel Johnston fashion, he was wearing a long-sleeved shirt that was a size too small, and ratty track pants that were just above his ankles. He had a binder of lyrics to his songs (Speeding Motorcycle , Hey Joe, Man Obsessed, Living Life and my personal favorite True Love Will Find You In The End just to name a few), and to the songs he covered (John Lennon's Jealous Guy and The Beatles' You've Got To Hide Your Love Away). The crowd was a receptive one: singing loudly and shouting out their respects to him in-between songs. Every song he sang, he gave it his all. He gripped the mic stand as if he were hanging on to a ledge for dear life, and his passion for the music showed that he was just doing what he loved.
My only complaint: it was too short.
I leave you with a picture, and video of my favorite Daniel Johnston song, True Love Will Find You In The End.
(Thank you to the nice folks who moved out of their spots to offer me a better view to take pictures! You guys are great!)
