Evelyn Evelyn at Bush Hall

Saturday night and it's time to finally see the Neville twins, Evelyn Evelyn, along with their friends and producers, Amanda Palmer and Jason Webley. We got there shortly after the doors opened to find the hall laid out with seats, all of which were already taken, so we staked out some space at the back of the hall beside the grand piano. The show kicked off at 7.30pm with Bitter Ruin, the duo from Brighton who supported Amanda's shows while everyone else was stranded on the other side of the Atlantic due to the Ash Cloud. They played a few songs and then it was time for the Evelyn twins to make their way onto stage...

Evelyn Evelyn appeared and gingerly made their way up the steps onto the stage in a big, floor-length dress, two heads, two arms and three (unseen) legs. Amanda and Jason gave a great performance as the twins, staying in character throughout, wiping down instruments and mics with a red handkerchief, eating a banana during the guitar solo in 'My Space', being fed sweets (I suspect it was a Twix) to calm them down and shut them up, moving round the stage with Holly Gaiman helping them to the keyboard and get into the accordion and guitar straps. The hours of practice really paid off and I think everyone was delighted with the performance.

Thomas Dolby (yes, there's a name I've not come across for many years) was filling in for Sxip Shirey as the MC for the Evelyn Evelyn part of the show, and he played it like everyone's daft uncle who thinks he's funnier than he really is. My favourite bit was when he came on stage during 'Chicken Man' with a chicken under his arm to freak out the twins who had to be calmed with sweets.

Evelyn Evelyn played my favourite songs from the new album (click to buy it in the column to the right, over there >>), 'Have You Seen My Sister Evelyn' and 'Elephant Elephant' (there's something about the simplicity of that song that I find incredibly pleasing). 'Chicken Man' was a fab thrash and the '80s tribute of 'My Space' has some great sing-along moments. After the twins vanished from the stage after about 45 minutes, Mr Dolby kept talking on stage to allow the twins time to get to the balcony at the back of the hall to sing a gentle and tender 'Love Will Tear Us Apart', which was excellent. It looked like that song was being filmed and, of course, when the camera panned across the throng below I was busy taking a swig of Guinness, so I was caught in the act... so to speak.

After a short break, on bounced Jason Webley to do a short set of some of his songs, mainly, I think, from his album, 'The Cost Of Living'. My favourite song in his set was the audience participation song, 'There's Not A Step You Can Take...' in which my side of the hall pretended to be a trombone and the other half were violins - clearly, we won. It's a fun song to be part of. I saw Jason as part of the Dresden Dolls shows at the Roundhouse four years ago and I think I'd go to see him again - he's a great live performer and even though his record sounds rather serious, he isn't at all.

And then on came Amanda Palmer to open her set and close Jason's with a joint song before launching into what sounded like a 'best of Amanda' set, mixing Dresden Dolls and Amanda Palmer solo songs nicely. She didn't seem quite as full-on as other times I've seen Amanda (11 times and counting, I think) and it turned out she was full of cold for real, but carried on anyway, her voice just as strong as always - she's not a woman to let us down.

It would've been lovely to have had a longer solo set from Amanda but she gave us some great performances - 'Ampersand', 'Bad Habit', 'Coin Operated Boy' and 'Leeds United' (have I mentioned I was going to be in that video?). Amanda played 'Delilah' with Georgia from Bitter Ruin doing backing warbles (Amanda likes getting different singers on different tours to sing that song with her) and I couldn't help but think back to the Roundhouse and Lene Lovich singing it with the Dolls - no-one does warbles better than Lene (I will return to Lene in a minute).

Then back came Jason to help Amanda close the show by singing the great 'Electric Blanket', a song they wrote together on tour last year. Then on came Thomas Dolby (out of costume) to join in the encores by doing a song with Amanda and Jason, a song he wrote for Lene Lovich back in the day, 'New Toy', and I delighted in being one of the few people in the Hall able to join in the chorus. And then everyone was back on stage with a couple of lucky people from the crowd for a drinking song led by Mr Webley, and that was it. I wasn't clock watching, but it must've been a 3.5 hour show with a few short breaks, very tiring for the performers and great value for fans.

The final part of any viewing of an Amanda Palmer show is the signing afterwards and, in my case, a trademarked Amanda Hug. But it was not to be. The Bitter Ruin duo were dutifully out front to sign things and then Jason Webley came out as well, but no Amanda, and that's when my shyness turned into despair. She's not coming. If she was, she'd have arrived with Jason or shortly afterwards. We waited until kicking out time and then left. Just as we were outside in the street, Amanda followed, coughing and with a tissue to her nose, clearly not well. So, I didn't get a hug or have a chance to say 'hello', but at least I saw her, and reminded myself how small she really is - she's a giant on stage.

It was a great show - Amanda always gives good show even when it's an anarchic mess of great songs strung together by her own conviction. A lot of work has obviously gone into the Evelyn Evelyn project and it must've been heart-rending for Amanda to play the first few shows on the tour on her own with her sister Jason being stuck in America due to the Ash Cloud, and then to be struck down with a cold. Still, I had a great night out and I've now seen the latest pop sensation on the block, the Evelyn Evelyn twins, in the flesh. So to speak. Get well, Amanda, and have a great tour! Oh, and sorry about the quality of the photos...

As ever, Punk Cabaret Is Freedom!