Amanda Palmer at Union Chapel Take Two

Tonight provided another opportunity to see Amanda so, naturally, I took it. Chris was in tow tonight and we sat in a different part of the balcony, closer to the stage and to the left. Polly Scattergood was, again, the support act.

Amanda came on stage and stood to the left of her keyboard, wearing her 'curtain' coat (that coat has hugged me, y'know), and proceeded to sing a song totally unaccompanied, no piano and no microphone, just her powerful and emotive voice filling the space of the chapel, sounding folky in nature. I didn't recognise the song but was very impressed with her voice. Then, off came the coat to reveal her black and white dress and she sat down to bang out 'Astronaut' and we were off...!

Tonight was more planned and professional, with Amanda actually having a plan for the show. Once again, it was a mix of solo and Dresden Dolls songs with a few covers thrown in for good measure. She did a Jason Webley song I didn't know and 'Look, Mummy, No Hands' from Fascinating Aida. She also played a Bach sequence since she's been learning how to read music (sounded good to me) and she accompanied Neil Gaiman singing 'Our Souls' (arse holes) and Polly Scattergood singing 'Puff The Magic Dragon'.

Amanda visited her Dresden past with two songs she rarely plays, 'Bank Of Boston Beauty Queen' and 'Boston' which I don't think I've seen her play before. She also looked to the future with 'The Bed Song', a new song she played live on the Jonathan Ross Show on Radio 2 this morning and which is excellent, with beautiful piano passages and touching lyrics that mean it will be a firm favourite that needs to be recorded and released with all due haste.

Favourites tonight were 'Ampersand' and 'The Point Of It All' (of course), 'Delilah' (a great song but I have the version with Lene Lovitch stuck in my head and Polly Scattergood ain't no Lene), 'Oasis' with the hand-clapping and Amanda telling us we're all going to hell, and the manic 'Runs In The Family'. For the encore she again stood at the front of the stage and sang unaccompanied into the space of the chapel, a song I didn't know but which seemed to affect Amanda since, as she turned away from the audience, I saw her wiping tears from her eyes (the benefit and curse of side seats). She then sat down and played 'The Point Of It All' as a final song.

After 'Oasis', that should have closed the show, we had the auction of the painting that had been started on Friday night on the stage behind Amanda. It raised £450 (not bad) but from where I was sitting, I couldn't quite make out what it was meant to be.

After the show we joined the queue to meet and sign stuff and, after about 40 minutes we were in front of Herself and Mr Gaiman when, who should appear but Polly Scattergood saying 'sorry' and all that, but her and her troupe are off, so we stood while they all said ta-ra and did kissy. Then Neil Gaiman said 'you're the gentlemen from the Alan Cumming show' and Amanda pointed to the 'Ampersand' badge underneath my 'Punk Cabaret Is Freedom' badge on my lapel (a badge for every occasion, that's me). Amanda signed our 'Who Killed...' DVDs while Neil asked if we were going to the show tomorrow at midnight to which Chris replied, 'no, not on a school night'. It was lovely to meet Amanda again and Neil certainly has a good memory, but Amanda seemed tired to me and maybe a show at midnight on Sunday isn't a good idea.

Still, Amanda was on top form tonight, a song in her repertoire for every eventuality and a performance to match. What we need is a new record and a live DVD please. Pretty please?