THE DRESDEN DOLLS

The Jane Austen Argument/The Bedroom Philosopher
The Astor Theatre
Thursday, January 12, 2012

Such is the cult of personality around Amanda Palmer (or Amanda Fucking Palmer, or AFP, or whatever) that it’s sometimes easy to forget that she used to be in a band once, and they were pretty good, too. Thursday night’s gig was a timely reminder that The Dresden Dolls weren’t just “Amanda Palmer and Some Guy,” but actually represent some of the best work in Palmer’s oeuvre.

Melbourne dark cabaret outfit – that’s a genre now, apparently, and not just a gimmick – The Jane Austen Argument were greeted warmly by a crowd far more pumped up and excited than is normal for these sorts of things. It’s par for the course that the opening support act gets the cold shoulder from the crowd, but this lot were so worked up that even a sound-checking roadie got a roar of approval. Pianist Tom Dickens and singer Jen Kingwell started things off nicely, their popularity no doubt buoyed by the fact that, when you get right down to it, they may as well be an AFP tribute band. While that means that they fit the tone of the night perfectly, it also means that there were few surprises in their set.
The Bedroom Philosopher’s appearance on the bill was a bit of a surprise in and of itself, with his self-deprecating musical comedy providing an odd but pleasing contrast to the broad, baroque strokes of the other two acts. An early dig at goths and emos didn’t go down too well – the black clad set are notoriously humourless when it comes to themselves – but he won them back quickly and easily enough, with shared-house psychodrama Megan The Vegan being the highlight of his slot.
And finally we had The Dresden Dolls, who could do no wrong in the eyes of faithful. Palmer’s huge and exuberant personality dominated the room, while Brian Viglione provided both top notch instrumentation and a straight man for Palmer to bounce off of. The rapport the two share is impressive, and there was never a moment that wasn’t enthralling.
Interestingly, although their long set – well in excess of two hours – ranged over the Dolls’ back catalogue, the highlights were undoubtedly the numerous covers scattered through the night. Yes, Girl Anachronism, Backstabber and especially Coin-Operated Boy went down well, but not nearly as well as a raucous cover of The Beastie Boys Fight For Your Right. T Rex and Neutral Milk Hotel also got a look-in, while a powerful rendition of The Mercy Seat was rendered somewhat meta-textual by the fact that, presumably unknown to Palmer and company, former Bad Seed Mick Harvey was in the audience. Song of the night, though, goes to the version of Black Sabbath’s War Pigs that got trotted out during the encore, although a good chunk of the crowd seemed to not recognise the track.
As usual, AFP hung around afterwards for a meet and greet, reaffirming the bonds between performer and public that make reviews like this largely redundant. In the eyes of her fans, she can do no wrong.

_TRAVIS JOHNSON