Crap, now I feel the need to go see "The Blue Man Group" again.

And to convince my friend with a half-finished PVC pipe instrument to finally finish it.
posted by beowulf573 at 1:26 PM on August 15, 2014 [1 favorite]

That was strangely mesmerizing.
posted by srt19170 at 1:27 PM on August 15, 2014

Uakti have doing this for a while.
posted by doctor_negative at 1:28 PM on August 15, 2014 [2 favorites]

previous and more previous pvc piper postings
posted by straight at 1:41 PM on August 15, 2014

I really wanted to see him put on the flip-flops, pick up his pipes and walk away!
posted by Anitanola at 1:43 PM on August 15, 2014 [1 favorite]

Who was that pipe guy..
posted by stbalbach at 1:45 PM on August 15, 2014

I feel like he might have hit the pipe one time too many.
posted by maxsparber at 1:53 PM on August 15, 2014 [7 favorites]

His Whack-a-Mario game is strong. Mario hasn't made it up out of one single pipe yet. He is never going to save the princess at this rate.
posted by the webmistress at 1:54 PM on August 15, 2014 [7 favorites]

techno unplugged
posted by philip-random at 2:01 PM on August 15, 2014 [4 favorites]

This guy has some amazing pipes.
posted by snuffleupagus at 2:01 PM on August 15, 2014 [1 favorite]

I'm on minute 6 and if he doesn't have a finale of sorts that crowd may just fall upon him and tear him elbow from straight piece.
posted by RolandOfEld at 2:11 PM on August 15, 2014 [3 favorites]

That is really impressive. It took me several minutes to realize that he's sitting on the bass drum.
posted by zardoz at 2:28 PM on August 15, 2014 [1 favorite]

Pretty cool... also definitively demonstrates why I would have zero desire to busk even if I had a super skill like that. People just annoy me. (not the pipe guy... a bunch of the other folks)
posted by edgeways at 2:33 PM on August 15, 2014 [3 favorites]

How are these people not dancing?
posted by Bonzai at 2:35 PM on August 15, 2014 [3 favorites]

Because that one guy is
posted by edgeways at 2:37 PM on August 15, 2014 [6 favorites]

I feel ... dubious about this. The flip-flop hitting his leg is making a handclap. Not to be a naysayer, but I feel like there has been some post-processing done here.
posted by jferg at 2:44 PM on August 15, 2014 [2 favorites]

I was rooting for the crab.
posted by Kafkaesque at 2:49 PM on August 15, 2014

Yeah that flip-flop noise doesn't seem right. Otherwise, nice!
posted by joseph conrad is fully awesome at 2:59 PM on August 15, 2014

I feel ... dubious about this. The flip-flop hitting his leg is making a handclap. Not to be a naysayer, but I feel like there has been some post-processing done here.

Go hit your leg with a well worn foam flip flop in a big open concrete area. Sounds surprisingly like a hand clap.
posted by stenseng at 3:06 PM on August 15, 2014 [6 favorites]

mathowie: "The Pipe Guy is a 10min medley of songs played on PVC pipes with flip-flops by a busker at a mall that is so good I can't stop playing it over and over."

But what exactly is so good about the mall?
posted by Joakim Ziegler at 3:53 PM on August 15, 2014 [4 favorites]

Also, how can he slap his thigh with a flip flop all day like that and not end up with a really painful welt?
posted by Joakim Ziegler at 3:55 PM on August 15, 2014

The thing hitting his leg is a clapper type instrument. It operates on the same principle as playing spoons or bones.
posted by dejah420 at 4:07 PM on August 15, 2014

I really wanted to see him put on the flip-flops, pick up his pipes and walk away!

I wanted to to see the carpet whisk him off the ground as he was playing "A Whole New World".
posted by horsewithnoname at 4:32 PM on August 15, 2014 [2 favorites]

Clapping is one flappy fleshy thing slapping against another flappy fleshy thing. Why¡­ why would that be a confusing sound to come from a different flappy fleshy thing slapping against another flappy fleshy thing?
posted by lucidium at 4:42 PM on August 15, 2014 [2 favorites]

I wanted to see him pull his neckbeard up and start playing it like a harmonica.
posted by ColdChef at 4:48 PM on August 15, 2014 [3 favorites]

So many feels
posted by hobo gitano de queretaro at 4:49 PM on August 15, 2014

His sextuplets answered one question I had.

I like (a lot) that the sound is very right for emulating a certain 80s synth pop.
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 5:24 PM on August 15, 2014 [1 favorite]

Previously on MetaFilter: Insommnia on spoons.
posted by We had a deal, Kyle at 5:44 PM on August 15, 2014

the sound is very right for emulating a certain 80s synth pop.

Well in fairness I don't think PVC is a natural product.

I keed, I keed, it was awesome. It's like the Spinners' Rubber Band Man came to life.
posted by localroger at 6:19 PM on August 15, 2014

7 seconds of applause. WTF?
posted by davebush at 7:07 PM on August 15, 2014

Where was Pipe Guy playing? Surely, someone knows that Apple store.
posted by Rash at 8:42 PM on August 15, 2014

Adelaide, Australia
posted by hobo gitano de queretaro at 10:11 PM on August 15, 2014

The Rundle Mall in Adelaide, Australia. Says so in the video. Which I have listened to at least ten times.
posted by the webmistress at 11:35 PM on August 15, 2014 [1 favorite]

Quote from a fellow Australian who I just shared this with on Facebook... (she's a professional conductor, musician and music teacher)

"That was 9 minutes of mesmeric awesome. On the downside, that is where a music degree gets you these days- playing pipes in rundle mall..... "
posted by taff at 4:21 AM on August 16, 2014 [3 favorites]

I'm amazed by the tone and timbre of that pipe instrument.
posted by rocket88 at 8:01 AM on August 16, 2014

He even looks like a guy that hits the pipe all the time.

Just serious, but that was wonderful music!
posted by wires at 8:47 AM on August 16, 2014

What I want, more than anything, is a quick-cut cinematic montage of him dreaming up and tinkering to perfect that instrument of his, complete with an hovering animated lightbulb over his head when he threw away his drumsticks, took off his flip-flops, and went to work.

I bet that guy can play a mean Popcorn.
posted by umb¨² at 7:24 PM on August 16, 2014