If there’s one thing you can expect from an Amanda Palmer gig, it’s the unexpected.
Of course there’ll be songs from the latest album with The Grand Theft Orchestra, probably some earlier classics from The Dresden Dolls, and surely a ukulele solo. But it’s the spontaneous song-list choices and genre diversity combined with lyrical intimacy and boisterous theatrics that made for a captivating performance.
When Palmer stepped onto The Tivoli’s stage alone, it was to thumping applause and raucous cheers from the robust audience. She looked every bit the cabaret punk rock star with heavily painted eyes; decked out in her now trademark black arm-warmers, corset and bra.
For added dramatic effect, the letters Y-E-S were scrawled across her décolletage. None of her adoring fans questioned its significance.
She articulated her appreciation of said fans arriving so early to catch the support act, Die Roten Punkte (The Red Dots), then left the Australian cabaret duo to introduce each other as siblings Astrid and Otto with their slightly dodgy German accents. They easily reaped laughs from the audience as they segued their amusing punk-pop ditties with comedic sibling banter.
After a short break, Palmer returned to the stage to introduce The Grand Theft Orchestra’s bass player Jherek Bischoff, who performed a solo bass piece with heavy distortion and loops at ear-splitting volume. The aural assault was then flipped on its head from a hauntingly beautiful tune on the ukulele that gently restored harmony to the world.
Finally, it was time for what the fans had been waiting a year for. Yes – a year. The Theatre Is Evil album (the result of a crowd-funding campaign that raised over US$1.2 Million) was recorded in Melbourne and released in September 2012; but the international tour had to be postponed due to a close friend of Palmer’s in the USA becoming seriously ill.
With Bischoff back on bass, Chad Raines on lead guitar, and Michael McQuilken on drums, Amanda Palmer and The Grand Theft Orchestra opened with the pumping “Do It With A Rock Star”, the first single release from Theatre Is Evil.
A kick-ass cover of Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit” followed, during which Palmer climbed off-stage into the mosh pit, disappearing into the crowd before making her way up the stairs to the balcony. She was poised to jump into the adoring swarm below but something motivated a change of mind.
Back on stage, she explained: “You know it’s 2013 when you’re about to jump off a balcony into the mosh pit but you can’t because everyone is holding their fucking phone. This is a metaphor for the entire world – you can’t catch me if you’re doing THAAAAAT!”
Did she inspire the crowd to put their phones away? Not a chance. (Yet Palmer later apologised to the girl whose phone she threw across the floor, before asking the audience to utilise their technology and send her an email on the spot. Make what you like of that.)
“I’m drawing my inspiration tonight from Miley Cyrus,” she announced. Was the crowd in for some twerking? Then, gesturing towards the bass player, she continued, “And from Jherek Bischoff; and hopefully, tonight, from you, motherfuckers,” before launching into the opening lines of “The Killing Type”, a sticky power-punk number from Theatre Is Evil that loops in your head for days.
The gorgeous cover of a song by Noah Britton from comedy troupe Asperger’s Are Us rates a mention too. It had the haunting beauty of a soundtrack for a yet-to-be-released Twin Peaks episode.
Other highlights included the tragically beautiful piano solo “The Bed Song”; a well-received ode to Melbourne, “From St Kilda to Fitzroy”; and the awesomely powerful “Bottomfeeder”, for which she appeared on stage wearing what looked like an incredibly long bridal-veil attached to her waist.
As she crowd-surfed all the way to the mixing desk, the veil fanned out across the audience like a giant fishing net.
Metaphoric? Most likely. Dramatic? Most definitely. Unexpected? Positively. Entertaining? That’s a big YES. Did she explain what the Y-E-S scrawled on her chest was about? N-O. But if you could hazard a guess at the question, and if you reckon it’s something like, “do you love me?” The answer from the crowd at The Tivoli would be a deafeningly loud “abso-fuckin-lutely”.
Amanda Palmer Setlist
“Do It With A Rock Star” – from Theatre Is Evil
“Smells Like Teen Spirit” – Nirvana cover
“The Killing Type” – from Theatre Is Evil
“Missed Me” – The Dresden Dolls
“Want It Back” – from Theatre Is Evil
“Astronaut” – from Who Killed Amanda Palmer
“The Bed Song” – from Theatre Is Evil
“Lady Gaga-Palmer-Madonna” – Palmer’s Kitchen-Ukulele-Blog song
“From St Kilda To Fitzroy” – from Theatre Is Evil
“I Love You So Much” – a song written by Noah Britton from comedy troupe, Aspergers Are Us
“Bottomfeeder” – from Theatre Is Evil
“Common People” – Pulp cover
“Leeds United” – from Who Killed Amanda Palmer
“Map of Tasmania” – from Amanda Palmer Goes Downunder
“Girl Anachronism” – The Dresden Dolls
