There is no shortage of talented showmen in the music industry, but now and then there are cultural icons who fall into obscurity despite their contributions. One such legend is Internet comedian Niel Cicierega, also known as his musical persona Lemon Demon. Niel has been around since the dawn of the Internet, and has been setting bizarre trends since. Internet veterans may know him as the guy behind Brodyquest, Bustin, The Ultimate Showdown, Potter Puppet Pals, and so much more. Niel has toured with his band as Lemon Demon in the past, their last show being in 2012. Since then he’s released a full album called Spirit Phone, which has only expanded his cult following online. Knowing me, this hiatus has left my imagination to run wild. I keep wondering what Lemon Demon’s live show would look like today with a new album to showcase and perhaps a larger special effects budget. So I made a playlist of the songs I think he should play.
Now it may look like a bunch of songs thrown together all willy-nilly, but I assure you that each one has been specifically chosen and placed in a deliberate order. It’s up to the artist what beats they want to hit in their show, but there are a few general rules of thumb I tried to follow here. One rule is to start high energy; this can be done by bursting into the set with Lifetime Achievement Award, the first song on Spirit Phone, which has a transition into Touch-Tone Telephone that gave me shivers the first time I heard it. Most of Niel’s back-catalogue is not as well-known as the Spirit Phone songs, but I sprinkled in the must-have fan-favorites so that it’s not just all songs from the same album. He also makes a lot of chaotic songs, which can be exhausting even for an audience that expects it. There’s a soft moment with No Eyed Girl and Spiral of Ants thrown in there, which picks back up with the (frankly terrifying) song Everybody Loves Raymond. Another rule of concert setlists is to end the main set high energy. This is why the main set would end with the beloved Sweet Bod and Brodyquest. If you’re going to do an encore, it is important that it’s the peak of the show because it’s going to be the last thing the audience remembers from your show. This encore has three songs, all of which are bopping fan-faves. The final song is, of course, The Ultimate Showdown, his most popular song by far. In actual performances he performs and extended version of it, which hypes the audience and makes a great close.
Will Niel Cicierega ever return to his Lemon Demon career? Will he ever tour again? Maybe not. He has a family and a successful enough career that he doesn’t need to do music unless he wants to. But for now there is hope, and I shall continue to project fantasies into 3AM Spotify playlists.
Setlists and Stories 