Imagination
Posted: Sat Dec 29, 2007 5:02 pm
I saw the concert goers Thursday on my way home from work; I couldn't figure out where they were headed. But, on Saturday, I saw this review in the Washington [D.C.] Post. I guess the picture caught my eye. Anyway, as I imagined myself there, the last two sentences just blew me away....
Kurt
...only passing through...
Dresden Dolls, Creating Delight Amid Disarray
If you ever wanted to plan a disjointed concert, Thursday night's Dresden Dolls show
at the Sixth and I Historic Synagogue would serve as a perfect template. For beginners,
the 5:30 p.m. start time was a pain for a lot of fans. The opening act, burlesque singer
Meow Meow, arrived late due to train problems. So the headliners went on even earlier
than expected, only to take a brief intermission after a handful of songs to let Meow
perform for 10 minutes.
Throw in the fact that it was the first show of the Dolls' tour, they had to motor up to
Baltimore for another gig later that night, singer Amanda Palmer was fighting the flu and
that they devoted a large portion of the set to B-sides and covers, and you'd expect
nothing short of a train wreck.
But out of the chaos emerged a unique and largely entertaining show that presented the
Dolls as more than just a goth-tinged novelty act. Sure, Palmer and drummer Brian Viglione
were caked in makeup, and the jaunty piano of such songs as "Coin-Operated Boy" and
"Mandy Goes to Med School" was straight out of the Weimar Republic. But "Glass Slipper"
showed impressive range, both emotional and vocal, as Palmer's flu-enhanced rasp only
made her sound more sincere. A cover of Neutral Milk Hotel's "Two-Headed Boy" (with
Viglione on guitar) was enthusiastic if a bit ill-advised, but the version of Leonard
Cohen's "One of Us Cannot Be Wrong" was a powerful closer. Palmer chanted the final
measure while walking down the synagogue's center aisle as the enraptured crowd stared
and gazed in silence.
-- David Malitz
Kurt
...only passing through...
Dresden Dolls, Creating Delight Amid Disarray
If you ever wanted to plan a disjointed concert, Thursday night's Dresden Dolls show
at the Sixth and I Historic Synagogue would serve as a perfect template. For beginners,
the 5:30 p.m. start time was a pain for a lot of fans. The opening act, burlesque singer
Meow Meow, arrived late due to train problems. So the headliners went on even earlier
than expected, only to take a brief intermission after a handful of songs to let Meow
perform for 10 minutes.
Throw in the fact that it was the first show of the Dolls' tour, they had to motor up to
Baltimore for another gig later that night, singer Amanda Palmer was fighting the flu and
that they devoted a large portion of the set to B-sides and covers, and you'd expect
nothing short of a train wreck.
But out of the chaos emerged a unique and largely entertaining show that presented the
Dolls as more than just a goth-tinged novelty act. Sure, Palmer and drummer Brian Viglione
were caked in makeup, and the jaunty piano of such songs as "Coin-Operated Boy" and
"Mandy Goes to Med School" was straight out of the Weimar Republic. But "Glass Slipper"
showed impressive range, both emotional and vocal, as Palmer's flu-enhanced rasp only
made her sound more sincere. A cover of Neutral Milk Hotel's "Two-Headed Boy" (with
Viglione on guitar) was enthusiastic if a bit ill-advised, but the version of Leonard
Cohen's "One of Us Cannot Be Wrong" was a powerful closer. Palmer chanted the final
measure while walking down the synagogue's center aisle as the enraptured crowd stared
and gazed in silence.
-- David Malitz