A Stunning Show
The Dresden Dolls have always been an intensely theatrical band who valued performance art highly, but singer Amanda Palmer’s solo shows seem to be taking this to another level. The premise of Amanda’s album, the forthcoming book that accompanies it and the stage shows is that the singer is really dead. It’s an odd idea and a quaint fellow dressed in black reminds us of the deceased’s status between each support act, in order to prepare the audience for the very bizarre spectacle when she takes to the stage, carried by four macabre characters and veiled. Thankfully as soon as she’s placed at her keyboard all awkwardness is dissipated as she launches into album opener ‘Astronaut’, a glorious tune that careers between melancholy and exuberant with a dazzling accompaniment of cello and violin. The solo songs played from Amanda’s solo album, ‘Who Killed Amanda Palmer?’ are notably the strongest tunes such as the rousing ‘Ampersand’, which Amanda performs alone on stage to crushing applause.
While the solo tunes work well with Amanda alone commanding the audience’s attention on stage, there are various vignettes presented by the team of performance artists that also add to the music. ‘Blake Says’ sees a gloomy character representing the song’s protagonist cross the stage with a MacBook and female characters, sat by a shrine to Amanda, scattering snow over his head as Amanda sings about cold in Alaska. During single ‘Leeds United’ horn players wind their way through the audience to join Amanda on stage, blasting their stuff at the crowd and even making the singer herself giggle at points. This burlesque act adds to the feeling that the audience are part of something unique and special with a different reaction every night. Perhaps the most amusing scene takes place during Dresden Dolls tune, ‘Coin-Operated Boy’, where two such boys work their way through the audience with signs saying “Will Kiss For Kash” and pursued by two besotted girls, before placing a smacker on Amanda at the end of the tune. It’s hilarious to watch both the audience and Amanda’s reaction and the charade in no way detracts from the slightly comic tune. The audience are also treated to Amanda dipping into a box of questions that audience members have written for her, there range from the silly “What’s your view on bassoons?” to well, the sillier, “I think my boyfriend wants to leave me and run away with you, what should I do?” The lighthearted tone runs into Amanda’s performance as she plays a tune written with Neil Gaiman called, “I Google You”, which is just as flippant and daft as it sounds.
Dresden Dolls tunes, ‘Bad Habit’ and ‘Half Jack’ are a welcome surprise, with the latter embellished with a stunning string solo section. Even more surprising perhaps is the choice of encore tunes; there’s a rousing chorus of ‘Living On A Prayer’ with the support acts also taking to the stage, which leads accordion player Jason Webley and Amanda to tear apart Bon Jovi’s lyrics in a chorus of, “it doesn’t really matter if we make sense or not”. It’s left to Amanda to deliver the last tune by herself though, and a stunning cover of ‘Hallelujah’ hits the spot perfectly.