Last night I saw a thing of rare beauty and power. I saw Amanda Palmer both lead and be part of her band, the Grand Theft Orchestra, comprising Jherek Bischoff, Chad Raines and Michael McQilken. They gel, they're one unit, they're four great performers and artists in their own right. Led, of course, by Amanda Fucking Palmer.
OK, so Koko isn't one of my favourite venues - unless you're near the front of the stage or balconies, then you don't get a very good view of the stage or the performers, but the sound is fine and it's quite nice being surrounded by the red and gold baroque of what was called the Music Machine and the Camden Palace back when punk bands ruled there. The plus side is that it has a nice long bar and the bar staff are very attentive and friendly (which always helps). It also has a giant glitter ball hanging from the ceiling (which is always a good thing). But most of all it has Miss Palmer on stage.
The last time I saw Amanda there was in 2008 for the
'Who Killed Amanda Palmer' tour. Back then she went on stage by walking through the audience - or on that night, hobbling through the audience on a crutch with her foot in plaster after a car accident in Dublin. That didn't hold her back, though, it just gave the Danger Ensemble more scope for their performance art.
Last night the ticket touts were out in force and I just couldn't help but grin at the sight of them. When they turn up to gigs you know you've arrived. There was Koko with its facade all lit up with pink and purple lights blaring out into the Camden night, and a huge queue snaking round the side of the building. I joined it with a private smile remembering when I saw Amanda years ago without having to queue.
Amanda came on stage in a kimono and general's cap to introduce the first support band, Jherek Bischoff and a crowd-sourced string quartet to do a few of the songs from his new album. Jherek was followed by Chad Raines and his band, The Simple Pleasure, which played some really dirty '80s synth riffs and rocked us with some pink flamingoes. They were great fun and Chad is a good frontman. I downloaded
their album from Bandcamp a month or so ago and it's well worth listening to. It must be handy having your support bands led by members of your own band. Michael McQilken doesn't have a record out or a band but a record is coming out shortly, so he was given the honour of playing one of his songs during the main set. Equality for all has always been Amanda's approach to these things and praise up anyone on the bill.
After a break (and a trip to the friendly bar), on came the Grand Theft Orchestra in white suits, all nicely different but similar at the same time, along with Amanda in a slinky posh white-gold frock. They launched into 'Smile' from the new record, 'Theatre Is Evil' and stayed on stage for most of the next two hours. Amanda has moved onto a new level with a big light show and a screen filling the back of the stage with both crowd-sourced and custom made projections, spotlights following her around and great sound. This is Amanda Palmer the Rock Star and she fit the bill perfectly. Her frock even stayed on for the first few songs before falling down to reveal a black bra (that's the AFP I know and love!).
Most of the songs were from 'Theatre Is Evil' and they sound great live. We had 'Missed Me' (during which the band swap instruments) and 'Girl Anachronism' from her Dresden Dolls days and 'Astronaut' from 'WKAP', all of which sound amazing with a full band behind them, adding volume to very familiar songs. We had cover songs (including 'Careless Whisper, accompanied by a great sax player) and guest stars including Scroobius (doing 'Letter From God') and then Neil Gaiman with his Sawchestra performing 'Psycho'. We had a light show and I knew I was at a punk/rock/cabaret show.
Favourites included a really powerful 'Smile (Pictures Or It Didn't Happen)' and 'Bottomfeeder' during which Amanda crowd-surfed around the crowd, even getting close to where I was standing at the back. 'The Killing Type' sounded great live as did the lovely 'Trout Heart Replica' with Jherek's string quartet adding to the swirling feel of fish swimming hypnotically round and round as Amanda sings and tells us what she wants from the Wizard.
My favourite of the evening was 'The Bed Song', a beautiful and tragic song about the loss of communication in a loving relationship - why didn't you say something? It's a tender song performed by Amanda on her own on stage with no light show, just Amanda doing it old school.
My second favourite was her cover of Yazoo's 'In My Room' (yes, *that* song!) if only because it was so unexpected. Complete with all the weirdness and synth-sounds, a faithful rendition with Amanda standing at the front of the stage with the projection of all the things you'd find in an '80s bedroom projected onto her and the screen behind her. I loved it but I think I was probably one of the few in the hall that recognised it. When it finished the crowd didn't seem to know whether it was a deliberate gap or the end so I started the clapping to help them realise it was over. Yes, mine were the first hands clapping and a second or two later everyone joined in.
My third favourite was a stonking version of 'Time Warp' from 'Rocky Horror' with guest star Richard O'Brien on lead vocals. Amanda sung Magenta's lines and Chad sung the Little Nell part. It was great fun, especially seeing all the middle aged people suddenly going into sweet transvestite mode and doing the dance.
It ended after 11:30pm with Amanda and the band in one of the theatre boxes at the side of the stage doing an encore of 'Want It Back', getting us to stamp out the beat on the wooden floor of Koko before gathering everyone back on stage for a final applause. On the way out I picked up a poster of Amanda's drawing about 'The Bed Song' (I saw the original at her Art Show over the summer and it's included in the GTO Art Book).
I had a lovely evening, thank you, with some great songs and sights. Amanda has quite clearly moved to another level with this album and tour. That makes me sad that hanging out after a show isn't going to be the same as it used to be but it also makes me proud of her. And she's still Amanda Fucking Palmer.
She's coming back to London in March to play the Roundhouse with GTO. The Dresden Dolls played there two nights running and recorded their
live DVD there so it holds some nice memories. It was also the site of Poly Styrene's last gig so is a special place. I've already ordered tickets. Have you?
I know it's rather early to talk about Christmas but you need to know that Cerys Matthews is releasing a Christmas album. It's due out in mid-November and can be pre-ordered at earthquake records.
It's a collection of songs that describe the ups and downs of shipbuilding on the Tyne, of the men who built those ships that sailed the world and created trade routes that fed the country, defended our island and went to war in the Falklands. The skyline of cranes, of ships being built beside the back to back terraced houses of Wallsend, the closure of Swan Hunter and Scotswood Road. I remember some of the scenes shown in the film, vague memories of skeletal cranes on the riverside and factories with walls black with coal dust and smoke. It's all so very different today.
Last night I saw a thing of rare beauty and power. I saw Amanda Palmer both lead and be part of her band, the Grand Theft Orchestra, comprising Jherek Bischoff, Chad Raines and Michael McQilken. They gel, they're one unit, they're four great performers and artists in their own right. Led, of course, by Amanda Fucking Palmer.
My third favourite was a stonking version of 'Time Warp' from 'Rocky Horror' with guest star Richard O'Brien on lead vocals. Amanda sung Magenta's lines and Chad sung the Little Nell part. It was great fun, especially seeing all the middle aged people suddenly going into sweet transvestite mode and doing the dance.
The delightful Amanda Palmer is in London again and that means she is bump-into-able so I must polish my 'Punk Cabaret Is Freedom' badge. That badge earned me a hug and chat a few years ago when I bumped into Amanda (and Neil) unexpectedly in the foyer of the Vaudeville Theatre on the Strand after an Alan Cummings show. Who knows where you might bump into her as she's out and about.
Calling all you London socialites that scour the listings mags to see what trendy things might be happening. Have you noticed Dawn Amber Harvey's Charity Box on 1 November at the Royal Vauxhall Tavern?
I've seen Ray a few times - with his band and with the choir - and never been able to take a good photo of him and it was the same in Croydon. His show generally follows the same same format with an acoustic set followed by a break, a change of shirts and the full band coming on to rock out. On Wednesday, this happened during 'Dead End Street', with the song gradually becoming more electric as it progressed. The good thing is that although the show follows the same format, the songs change. He's got so many to choose from after all.
We had all the '60s classics of 'Dedicated Follower Of Fashion', 'Autumn Almanac' and 'Sunny Afternoon', Ray's hits with The Kinks. His tales of England (and London in particular) that he just can't help but sing about. He's a London boy after all. There were no 'Village Green' songs but we were gifted with an electric version of 'Apeman' that I bought back in 1971 and the environmental message is just as relevant today.
My favourite songs included 'I'm Not Like Everyone Else', 'See My Friends', 'Tired Of Waiting For You', 'This Is Where I Belong' and a massive sing-along 'Victoria'. I sang along quietly to 'Days' with a tear in my eye (and hoped he'd mention Kirsty MacColl who had a hit with the song in the '80s and was from Croydon, but he didn't) and to the exceptional 'Waterloo Sunset'.
I went to see the revival of 'Taboo' at the Brixton Club House last week and I'm jolly pleased I did - it's just as good as I remember it from ten years ago when I first saw it at The Venue (now the Leicester Square Theatre). It's gaudy, brash, outlandish, full of fun and freaks and some great songs. It's 'Taboo'!
It was in the second half that I noticed the bigger differences when Billy gives away photos of George on junk and makes it plain (and loud) that he doesn't want money, this is to help George. And oddly, Billy's dad doesn't beat up Philip Sallon, he's restrained while three blokes do the job and he then runs after them after making sure Philip is all right. He then re-appears covered in blood having been stabbed by the queer bashers and dies a hero. I'm not really sure why that change was made or what it adds.
Overall verdict? I loved it! The story's changed, a few new songs and scenes but it's still 'Taboo' and it will always have a special place in the pantheon of plays and musicals I've seen over the last ten years.
The two key roles of Boy George and Leigh Bowery were played by first-timers Matthew Rowland and Sam Buttery (who was, according to the programme, on 'The Voice'). Both have great presence and great voices but kudos must go to Sam in full Bowery drag appearing from behind the bar as Leigh and later appearing naked to be painted by Lucien Freud. It was a very confident and professional performance and he deserves all the praise he's getting.
I'd also single out Katie Kerr as Big Sue who I saw a few years ago in 'The Little Shop Of Horrors' at the Choccy Factory. She has an excellent voice and actually got my eyes moist singing her excellent version of 'Il Adore' as Leigh dies (off stage). She brought happiness and tragedy to a song she sings as she remembers her friend and love and she deserved the huge applause she got for that song. Well done Katie!
Buffy Sainte-Marie has been around for a while and been working with and influencing people since the '60s (including Kanye West who sampled 'Lazarus'). It's good to see she's still doing it today, specifically in new albums released by Sandi Thom and Patrick Wolf.
Last week I went to see the new Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood exhibition at the Tate Britain.It was quite busy and reminded me of my dislike of those audio-tour headphone sets but it's well worth a visit.
Combining rebellion, beauty, scientific precision and imaginative grandeur, the Pre-Raphaelites constitute Britain’s first modern art movement. This exhibition brings together over 150 works in different media, including painting, sculpture, photography and the applied arts, revealing the Pre-Raphaelites to be advanced in their approach to every genre. Led by Dante Gabriel Rossetti, William Holman Hunt and John Everett Millais, the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood (PRB) rebelled against the art establishment of the mid-nineteenth century, taking inspiration from early Renaissance painting.
I was, strangely, delighted to see 'Isabella and the Pot of Basil' (above) by William Holman Hunt and 'Laus Veneris' by Edward Burne-Jones, both on loan from the Laing Gallery in Newcastle. These were the first Pre-Raphaelite paintings I ever saw in the flesh and it's always a delight to see them. My other influence from the Laing is the work of John Martin who painted vast panoramic scenes whereas the next generation focused on the detail of the PRB.
Did you know that today was National Poetry Day? No, I didn't either until I heard it on Radio 4's 'Today' programme this morning. I decided I would contribute by reading some poetry on my way to and from work today from my new collection of poems, 'The World Record', published as part of the Poetry Parnassus festival.
Last week I went to see the hugely enjoyable new production of 'Much Ado About Nothing', the new Indian version by the Royal Shakespeare Company that is part of the World Shakespeare Festival 2012 and part of the London 2012 Festival. It stars Meera Syal as Beatrice and Paul Bhattacharjee as Benedick.
This great new production blurs (as theatricals will say) the fourth wall, in that the cast engage directly with the audience as we troop in and, occasionally, during the play, and that brings a new lease of life to it, making it real to us. The cast explode from the doors into the stalls and up the steps to the stage as well as entering from the stage and walking down steps from the Indian-style compound that makes up the set. The staging was excellent as was the really atmospheric and carefully judged lighting.
This is quite possibly the most enjoyable production of a Shakespeare play I have ever seen. I mean that. It made me laugh out loud and Meera and the rest of the cast wrung every possible laugh out of it with a raised eyebrow at just the right moment, a nod or a shake of a scarf. It was all timed to perfection and I count myself lucky to have seen it. It's only on for a few more weeks so grab a ticket while you can.
I went to see the 'Bronze' exhibition of, um, bronzes, at The Royal Academy last week and it's well worth a visit. The blurb on the RA website says:
The first thing you see on going into the exhibition is the huge 'Dancing Satyr' on a plinth in the middle of the first room. He was pulled out of the sea by fishermen a few years ago and rose head-first, like he was rising from the seabed to revisit the world he last knew a couple of millennia ago. He really is quite impressive and a fitting start to the exhibition. 
The exhibition then moves on to animals and the first one we see is a chimera from about 400BCE with a lion's head and paws, a snake for a tail, and antelope growing out of his back and all sorts of other weirdness melded together as one animal. The star of this section, though, was the magnificent 'Il Porcellino' from Florence, better known to me as Piggy! A lovely statue of a bronze pig used as a fountain with water dripping from his mouth and surrounded by pond creatures. This is the original that now lives in a museum but I've stroked the snout of his counterpart outside the market in Florence and that means I will go back one day.
In other rooms there was a rather large statue of Shiva Nataraja dancing in his wheel of cosmic fire, Lord of the Dance as he destroys and creates the world, destroying ignorance and welcoming the flame of wisdom. In this room of 'gods' there's also a life-sized statue of Jesus, a pot-bellied Ganesha and one statue of Buddha. Elsewhere there's a small statue of 'Yashoda Nursing the Infant Krishna' which is quite a domestic scene until you notice the baby Krishna has his lips to one nipple and his fingers to the other, tweaking his foster-mothe's nipple. Well, he is Krishna after all. 
