Amanda Palmer

I have a new crush!

And for once it’s not Gossip Girl-related. (Although last night’s episode? So good. And the next one looks OMFG worthy.)

Steve and I went to a fabulous show tonight at the 9:30 Club. If you ever get a chance to see Amanda Palmer, do it. So fabulous! Steve’s been listening to her solo album, Who Killed Amanda Palmer, nonstop for the last two months. I was more than passingly familiar with her quirky songs, and I liked them enough that when he announced he was going to the concert, I made the unusual request to come with. But it was mostly so I could have a date with my husband in the midst of all his rehearsal madness. I didn’t know I would actually, um, have fun.

I haven’t seen live music in ages. Too long, considering that music and musical friends were a huge part of my adolescence. But so many concerts are loud and super-crowded and I’m too short to see the stage and it’s all…uncomfortable, frankly. I wind up feeling all claustrophobic and irritated. This was not like that. This was practically perfect. It was an early show, not too crowded, and we got primo standing room on the stage-right balcony. I even got a caramel latte. The opening acts were tons of fun. And then…

Amanda Palmer! She put one on hell of a Show. Great lights, great costumes (I am totally envious of her fabulous corset/taffeta skirt/motorcycle boots combo), great lyrics, great voice, great audience involvement. And it was totally a theatrical experience as well as a musical one. Amanda was joined onstage by The Danger Ensemble, a group of four insane Australian performance artists. They did a lot of interesting movement and mime, but my favorite part may have been their foul, funny dance to Rihanna’s "Umbrella" at the end. Actually, they were foul and funny and disturbing and arresting throughout. Her band The Dresden Dolls is billed as "Brechtian punk cabaret," and I can totally see where the Brecht comes in now. I didn’t sink into the music or my own head; I was too fully engaged watching the show and thinking about the multiple meanings. 

I think it was maybe my favorite concert ever.

Now I am off to bake some peanut-butter fudge for my husband’s hardworking cast.