Amanda Palmer at the Forum (long post)
Feb. 27th, 2010 06:11 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sharplittleteethWe saw Amanda Palmer at the Forum last night.
Look. She's not to everyone's taste. That's fine. Even I feel a bit uncomfortable about some of her antics, her nude twittering, her TMI blogs, her engagement to Neil Gaiman which is perfectly normal but still somehow feels like fanservice. People are free to love or loathe her. That's cool.
The haters are just plain wrong, though. ; )
Because when you see her play on stage, beneath the Forum's proscenium arch... it's like watching a cheetah run. This is what she does. And she does it magnificently.
THE SUPPORT BANDS
A. and I met![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
usekh at the ACMI Lounge for dinner before the show. There was a short queue to get in to the Forum. We entered just as Amanda Palmer came out on stage in her dressing gown and introduced her first support act - the Jane Austen Argument.
I can't really tell you much about this band, because they only played two songs, and I was out in the Foyer buying a t-shirt during one of them. The female member had the most amazing hair, though. She looked like Bernard's summer girlfriend from Black Books.
Second support band was Mikelangelo, with a new backing band dubbed the One and a Half Night Stand. Think a cross between Elvis Presley and Nick Cave, only Eastern European. Friends have raved about him. I thought he was good, but he never really caught fire. Perhaps because so much of his stage act involves audience interaction, and he was trapped above them on the stage. I'll check him out in a smaller venue.
I bump intop_cat and K. in break after his set.
THE INEVITABLE TECHNICAL FUCK UP
Showtime. Amanda Palmer strides onto stage. Audience cheers. She pounds the opening riff to "Sex Changes". Hits the wrong button. Her electric piano changes to a harpsichord.
She keeps playing, calling for someone to help her change it back. Mikelangelo comes out. Presses buttons. The harpsichord now has a drum machine backing.
She makes a joke about electroclash. Reboots the keyboard. Starts again.
Ah yes. It wouldn't be an Amanda Palmer gig without at least one technical fuck up.
But she's laughing all through it, and the audience laugh with her. This is the secret to Palmer's charisma: for all her painted eyebrows and Weimar Berlin dress-ups, she's real. This isn't a Britney Spears show, where all trace of humanity has been lip-synched and choreographed away. This a real woman, with real armpit hair, playing a real instrument, with real and explosive passion.
AMANDA FUCKING PALMER
She blitzes her way through a couple of old Dresden Dolls songs and one off her solo album. Her voice is massive.
There's something missing, though. That something is Brian Viglione, drummer for the Dresden Dolls. Without him, the songs just aren't as full, or visceral. They're songs you listen to, rather than dance to.
Palmer brings out a string quartet for some songs. Their version of "Have To Drive" sends a chill up my backbone. I cry during the chorus. It's so dark and lush.
The string quartet leave. Palmer plays some more solo songs, including a new one. She takes requests from the audience, and everyone does the 50's handclaps to "Oasis". She tells us how much she loves Melbourne.
She takes questions from the audience. What's the status of the Dresden Dolls? She'd love to tour with Brian again, and if they do, they would definitely come to Australia. When is she going to move here? She doesn't really live anywhere, at the moment, but she plans to stay here for several months next (Northern hemisphere) winter.
She plays a second new song, about Vegemite.
The Jane Austen Argument join her for a cover. I think it was a Regina Spektor song. Not sure. (This was when I noticed the hair.)
Palmer brings out a special guest: Paul Kelly. They sing Kelly's "Wintercoat" together, dark and bluesy and sparse.
Mikelangelo and band join them on stage. Amanda announces another special guest: Mick Harvey. They play "Henry Lee." (YouTube video here.)
Amanda Palmer, Paul Kelly, Mikelangelo and Mick Harvey are covering Nick Cave on stage at the Forum. The audience go insane . This is a A Moment.
(Well, half the audience go insane. The younger members are all wondering who the guy playing piano is. To be fair, Mick Harvey doesn't look like a legend of Australian music. He looks like someone's dad.)
Kelly and Harvey bow off. Palmer, Mikelangelo and band play a third new song. It's good, rich gypsy jazz. They gush about how beautiful the Forum is. Mikelangelo makes a joke about wanting to climb up to sing with the statues above the stage, but occupational health and safety laws prevent it.
Someone in the audience requests "Leeds United". The band don't know it. Palmer explains it to them in thirty seconds. This may all go horribly wrong, she says.
They blow it into orbit.
She plays a few more songs solo, then gets the string quartet back for "Runs in the Family" and finishes the show with a cover of Radiohead's "Exit Music (For A Film)".
Cheers. Cries for encore.
She comes back out. Rips through "Girl Anachronism" and "Half Jack". Exits stage right, rather than left like she did before.
The house lights stay down. Will there be a second encore?
Whispers run through the crowd. People point up.
Amanda Palmer is up amongst the statues. She plays Radiohead's "Creep" on ukulele, unamplified. The entire audience sing along.
It's magic. Just beautiful, utter magic.
AN INCOMPLETE SETLIST
We're trying to puzzle this out. Our memories are not as good as they were. It doesn't help that there were three new songs, none of which have titles yet.
Sex Changes
Missed Me
Ampersand
Astronaut [with Lyndon Chester string quartet]
Have to Drive [with string quartet]
The Time Has Come
[New song - about beds]
Coin Operated Boy
Oasis
[New song - about Vegemite]
[cover song - Regina Spektor?] [with the Jane Austen Arguement]
Wintercoat [cover, with Paul Kelly]
Henry Lee [with Mikelangelo and band, Paul Kelly and Mick Harvey]
[New song - about a doctor she had a crush on] [with Mikelangelo and band]
Leeds United [with Mikelangelo and band]
Runs In The Family [with string quartet]
Exit Music (For A Film) [with string quartet]
Girl Anachronism
Half Jack
Creep
Look. She's not to everyone's taste. That's fine. Even I feel a bit uncomfortable about some of her antics, her nude twittering, her TMI blogs, her engagement to Neil Gaiman which is perfectly normal but still somehow feels like fanservice. People are free to love or loathe her. That's cool.
The haters are just plain wrong, though. ; )
Because when you see her play on stage, beneath the Forum's proscenium arch... it's like watching a cheetah run. This is what she does. And she does it magnificently.
THE SUPPORT BANDS
A. and I met
usekh at the ACMI Lounge for dinner before the show. There was a short queue to get in to the Forum. We entered just as Amanda Palmer came out on stage in her dressing gown and introduced her first support act - the Jane Austen Argument. I can't really tell you much about this band, because they only played two songs, and I was out in the Foyer buying a t-shirt during one of them. The female member had the most amazing hair, though. She looked like Bernard's summer girlfriend from Black Books.
Second support band was Mikelangelo, with a new backing band dubbed the One and a Half Night Stand. Think a cross between Elvis Presley and Nick Cave, only Eastern European. Friends have raved about him. I thought he was good, but he never really caught fire. Perhaps because so much of his stage act involves audience interaction, and he was trapped above them on the stage. I'll check him out in a smaller venue.
I bump into
p_cat and K. in break after his set.THE INEVITABLE TECHNICAL FUCK UP
Showtime. Amanda Palmer strides onto stage. Audience cheers. She pounds the opening riff to "Sex Changes". Hits the wrong button. Her electric piano changes to a harpsichord.
She keeps playing, calling for someone to help her change it back. Mikelangelo comes out. Presses buttons. The harpsichord now has a drum machine backing.
She makes a joke about electroclash. Reboots the keyboard. Starts again.
Ah yes. It wouldn't be an Amanda Palmer gig without at least one technical fuck up.
But she's laughing all through it, and the audience laugh with her. This is the secret to Palmer's charisma: for all her painted eyebrows and Weimar Berlin dress-ups, she's real. This isn't a Britney Spears show, where all trace of humanity has been lip-synched and choreographed away. This a real woman, with real armpit hair, playing a real instrument, with real and explosive passion.
AMANDA FUCKING PALMER
She blitzes her way through a couple of old Dresden Dolls songs and one off her solo album. Her voice is massive.
There's something missing, though. That something is Brian Viglione, drummer for the Dresden Dolls. Without him, the songs just aren't as full, or visceral. They're songs you listen to, rather than dance to.
Palmer brings out a string quartet for some songs. Their version of "Have To Drive" sends a chill up my backbone. I cry during the chorus. It's so dark and lush.
The string quartet leave. Palmer plays some more solo songs, including a new one. She takes requests from the audience, and everyone does the 50's handclaps to "Oasis". She tells us how much she loves Melbourne.
She takes questions from the audience. What's the status of the Dresden Dolls? She'd love to tour with Brian again, and if they do, they would definitely come to Australia. When is she going to move here? She doesn't really live anywhere, at the moment, but she plans to stay here for several months next (Northern hemisphere) winter.
She plays a second new song, about Vegemite.
The Jane Austen Argument join her for a cover. I think it was a Regina Spektor song. Not sure. (This was when I noticed the hair.)
Palmer brings out a special guest: Paul Kelly. They sing Kelly's "Wintercoat" together, dark and bluesy and sparse.
Mikelangelo and band join them on stage. Amanda announces another special guest: Mick Harvey. They play "Henry Lee." (YouTube video here.)
Amanda Palmer, Paul Kelly, Mikelangelo and Mick Harvey are covering Nick Cave on stage at the Forum. The audience go insane . This is a A Moment.
(Well, half the audience go insane. The younger members are all wondering who the guy playing piano is. To be fair, Mick Harvey doesn't look like a legend of Australian music. He looks like someone's dad.)
Kelly and Harvey bow off. Palmer, Mikelangelo and band play a third new song. It's good, rich gypsy jazz. They gush about how beautiful the Forum is. Mikelangelo makes a joke about wanting to climb up to sing with the statues above the stage, but occupational health and safety laws prevent it.
Someone in the audience requests "Leeds United". The band don't know it. Palmer explains it to them in thirty seconds. This may all go horribly wrong, she says.
They blow it into orbit.
She plays a few more songs solo, then gets the string quartet back for "Runs in the Family" and finishes the show with a cover of Radiohead's "Exit Music (For A Film)".
Cheers. Cries for encore.
She comes back out. Rips through "Girl Anachronism" and "Half Jack". Exits stage right, rather than left like she did before.
The house lights stay down. Will there be a second encore?
Whispers run through the crowd. People point up.
Amanda Palmer is up amongst the statues. She plays Radiohead's "Creep" on ukulele, unamplified. The entire audience sing along.
It's magic. Just beautiful, utter magic.
AN INCOMPLETE SETLIST
We're trying to puzzle this out. Our memories are not as good as they were. It doesn't help that there were three new songs, none of which have titles yet.
Sex Changes
Missed Me
Ampersand
Astronaut [with Lyndon Chester string quartet]
Have to Drive [with string quartet]
The Time Has Come
[New song - about beds]
Coin Operated Boy
Oasis
[New song - about Vegemite]
[cover song - Regina Spektor?] [with the Jane Austen Arguement]
Wintercoat [cover, with Paul Kelly]
Henry Lee [with Mikelangelo and band, Paul Kelly and Mick Harvey]
[New song - about a doctor she had a crush on] [with Mikelangelo and band]
Leeds United [with Mikelangelo and band]
Runs In The Family [with string quartet]
Exit Music (For A Film) [with string quartet]
Girl Anachronism
Half Jack
Creep
