Good (Dolls) Day

It was worth all the recent trials and tribulations to see The Dresden Dolls this evening - what a glorious hour and a half! Amanda in her stripey stockings (and, oddly enough, a The Who tee shirt) and Brian in his bowler hat. Keyboards and percussion make so much noise with Amanda's voice soaring and diving over the top of it all, a wondrous sound. The Astoria isn't one of my favourite venues but they did what they could to add an element of cabaret with performance art in the foyer and an acrobat on stage and, of course, the two of them filled the stage and filled the venue with delightful noise.

The opening words of the show were the first line of 'Sex Changes' which set a good tone for the evening. There was a nice mix of songs with good pacing and some wonderful crescendo moments. Favourite moments were 'Coin Operated Boy', Girl Anachronism', 'Perfect Fit' and 'Half Jack' from the first album and 'Modern Moonlight', 'Backstabber' and 'Mrs O' from the new record (I loved it when Amanda referred to it as their 'new record').

They did a lovely accoustic version of T.Rex's 'Cosmic Dancer' (with Brian on guitar) and a great treat was 'Amsterdam' with Amanda swaggering drunkenly over the stage as she takes on the persona of the pissed seaman. They both seem to pour themselves into the music and the performance, they must be drained at the end, sending us all away with their energy.

The four song enchore ended with the wonderful 'Good Day', and what a good day it was.

God! Its been a lovely day!

Everything's been going my way

I had so much fun today

And I'm on fire!

I was grinning from ear to ear as we left, ushered out quickly so they could get ready for the club starting. In retrospect, I'm relieved that they didn't do 'Sing' from the new record (and one of my current favourites) since it would have been spoiled by people talking over the quiet bits. There was a general murmur of background conversation throughout the show that was quite noticeable during 'Cosmic Dancer' - I assume most of the audience didn't know what it was or who T.Rex were. Why do people go to concerts to talk and look around? Look at the stage, damn you, watch and listen and keep your gobs shut!

What a good day I've had - I also picked up the missing New York Dolls CD this afternoon so I'm back down with the dolls!

Thank you, Amanda and Brian, for a great evening. When will I next see you, I wonder?