Amanda Palmer, The Jane AustenArgument, Mikelangelo @ TheNational Gallery, Canberra(1/2/11)

Thu 3rd Feb, 2011 in Gig Reviews

When Amanda Palmer (considered somewhat of a musical goddess) announced she was bringing her cabaret stylings and ’screw you’ tunes to Canberra, it was to the delight of her reverent, costumed fans… and everybody else. With someone like Palmer, who has such a unique body of work and performance style, the show is guaranteed to be something special and on that front, she definitely didn’t disappoint.

At first, the James O Fairfax Theatre at the National Gallery of Australia seemed an odd choice of venue, but it provided the perfect backdrop for what was to come, a wonderful blend of intimacy and grandeur.

Melbourne’s The Jane Austen Argument, part of Palmer’s ‘freaky backstage family’ kicked things off with their pretty but powerful tunes. They opened with Phoenix and closed with the haunting Under the Rainbow, each equally impressive displays of intelligent songwriting and impressive vocals. Male and female duos are nothing new, partially due to the success of Angus and Julia Stone, but there is nothing staid about what Tom and Jen do. Their self-confessed indie-cabaret-noir sound creates songs that are equal part ethereal and quirky.

Then up came Elvis. At least, if you squinted your eyes and tilted your head just a little then you could be forgiven for thinking this. The formidable Mikelangelo strode out onto the stage, side-burns and tighter-than-tight pants joining him. He played a set about death, love and other terrifying things and was later joined by one of his Black Sea Gentlemen, The Great Moldavio who like Mikelangelo, seemed to have a penchant for sartorial dramatics and thick, European accents.

After this bout of showmanship the excited audience was left to wonder what was going to happen next. After a thankfully short time Mikelangelo returned to introduce Palmer, calling her “A woman like no other woman.” Always defying convention, Palmer declined to take to the stage from the side door, instead making her way from the back of the room. All eyes were on her as she trailed down the stairs, ukulele in hand, singing Makin’ Whoopee, the first track off the recently released Amanda Palmer Goes Down Under. Palmer appeared exactly as her loyal fans have come to expect, all tulle, fishnets and painted eyebrows.

At the piano Palmer looked completely at home and she probably was, crashing headfirst into Astronaut and the always amazing Ampersand. Palmer then addressed the audience and it became clear that she’s a musician that can banter with her audience easily, treating them more like friends than strangers.

Sure enough, Palmer struck up conversations with fans throughout the evening. After making a light-hearted joke at Canberra’s expense, she was met with “We also have feelings!” from one brave young man. This casual intimacy is one of the endearing qualities in Palmer and one that made the show just so memorable.

Requests from audience members resulted in renditions of the scandal-ridden Oasis and the yet to be officially released The Bed Song. The Dresden Dolls were revisited with a crowd favourite, Coin Operated Boy.

The Jane Austen Argument returned to the stage to join Palmer in singing one of Tom’s own songs Bad Wine and Lemon Cake, while Mikelangelo and Moldavio were on hand for the deeply sexual A Formidable Marinade.

The humorous Map of Tasmania provided some light relief before the mood got sombre, with a beautiful rendition of traditional Australian folksong The Drover’s Boy and Nick Cave’s glorious The Ship Song, after which the she bid us farewell and left the stage.

Palmer isn’t one to leave things in a mood that’s anything less than totally insane. So when she and the rest of her backstage family returned, it was to sing The Lion Sleeps Tonight, complete with some very active audience participation, ending with Palmer crowd surfing her way through the audience. That’s right. Crowd surfing. In the National Gallery.

No wonder they call her Amanda Fucking Palmer.

Check out photos from Amanda Palmer’s ninja gig @ The Carillion here