Patrick Wolf @ Capitol, Perth(12/12/09)

Tue 15th Dec, 2009 in Gig Reviews

Find your inner glam in Toxikon’s gallery

The queue for Capitol on Saturday night wasn’t the usual short-dress types or jean-wearing disco kids. Black lycra, leather, splashes of sequins, eccentric bow ties, indie specs, bold rouge lipstick and dirty eye-liner was the buoyant attire on show – a spectacle that even the avant-garde youth of British pop, Patrick Wolf, would be proud of.

As the master of electrifying individuality emerged upon the blue-lit smoky stage, it was safe to say that Wolf had out-done everyone.

Dressed in tight black pants with a ruffled front, a black feather jacket accompanied by a black leather belt that attached around his neck, a leather head-band and blue glitter stamped on each ear, Wolf oozed with the dramatically wild and this resonated throughout his performance.

Having just played at Meredith and on tour for the first half of his new double album, The Bachelor, an intense anticipation arose as the electro-chamber echoes accelerated in succession to produce the first track for the set, Kriegspiel.

It was at this point that Wolf stared erotically out into the audience, wound his fingers around the microphone as if it were a fragile animal trying to escape his grasp and uttered “Father, where is my gun?” from Oblivion.

The electro-pop tune underscored Wolf’s tender voice and contrasts the dark and mournful lyrics beautifully delivered, like a lost soul.

And so the bopping and chanting began as eager fans transformed into appreciative indie-folk nerds dancing non-aggressively

But the head bopping and hip popping ceased as Wolf strode dramatically towards the keys (adjusting his feather jacket to reveal his bare, leather-strapped chest) and began the gentle rendition of Blue Bells from his third album, Magic Position.

Wolf’s poetic, romantic delivery of this lullaby resulted in all phones, cameras and drinks being forgotten and hundreds of glittered, made-up eyes of boys and girls focused unblinkingly on Wolf’s gleaming, glittered performance.

As the clock-chimes of Damaris echoed throughout the lustful crowd and the euphoric exhibition of violin rhythms took over, Wolf removed his feather jacket and the whistles and cheers almost drowned out the distinctive violin.

Taking a step back in time, Wolf announced his decision to play Wind In The Wires a tune he used to perform when he first started touring. The synthesised sounds of ducks began, just as Wolf was about to launch into the song at which he paused, laughed and turned around to his keyboardist asking “Were those ducks?” Turning back to the audience, he chuckled about the lack of relevance of ducks to the song and attempted to regain composure. Although unfamiliar to most, the song was entertaining. Wolf’s evocative presence shits all over any regular rock gig.

The ukulele was out on display next as sharp, folk-filled sounds introduced album title track The Bachelor The slow, melodious and almost operatic sounds of The Libertine were directly contrasted by the harsh, Dracula character during Count of Casualty. The crowd remained well-behaved, waiting patiently as Wolf exited the stage like a count of casualty, returning in a long black Dementor gown.

Teasing the costumed crowd, Wolf pulled the gown over his head and swam around in it, hugging himself and then finally breaking free to reveal a black and white vertical striped jacket with external shoulder pads that resemble black plastic cheer-leading pom-poms.

The Lycanthropy track Child Catcher creates a sense of discomfort as Wolf utters the lines “I was still a child when you caught me and tied me to your bed, you gave me shoes and pretty clothes, and I gave you what I had between my legs.” It is particularly confronting when he screams like a paedophile version of the Gingerbread Man, whining ” run run run as fast as you can but you can’t run run from the child catcher’s hands.”

The blunt, conversational lyrics of Tristan were voiced as violently as if Wolf were making a confession. Keeping the audience erotically charged, he removed his jacket to reveal a striped prison jump-suit which unzipped to his crotch. Slowly placing the microphone in the front of his pants for nothing but attention, he then swung it above his head like a cowboy and the fairy electro tinkering that introduce the timely, somewhat vampire-themed Bloodbeat rang out. The mood was uplifted by The Stars and a story involving members of the Perth public yelling abuse about his clothes and suggesting he looked like a housewife or Britney Spears; far from what he claims he was trying to achieve.

The crowd turned crazy as the electric guitar and the familiar sound of the popular Hard Times took over. The erratic behaviour intensified as the indie-folk dance anthem Magic Position saw Wolf go limb-mental and smile into the glaring lights like a happy maniac.

As he thanked the audience generously for making the final show for his Australian tour such a great experience, no-one was expecting a Spartan costume to be the choice for the encore, Vulture. With hands in the air and outrageously fanatical dancing taking place by all present, Wolf brought back the weird, wonderful and wild. His musical versatility and downright unashamed eccentric individuality made for an excessively entertaining performance stamped with creativity, an unforgiving energy and marked with brilliance.

Find your inner glam in Toxikon’s gallery