Amanda Fucking Palmer
Who Killed Amanda Palmer?
12th March, Bodega
Who Killed Amanda Palmer? is Amanda Palmer’s debut solo album, book and concert tour. The musical content is slightly slower than some of her work in previous band The Dresden Dolls, but the themes are far reaching, even creating a false radio station to report insight into the ‘murder’, and a book of photographs of the murdered Palmer, interspersed with stories from fiance Neil Gaiman (swoon). The concert in itself, however, was only about eight songs, a good mix of old and new, and a story from the book. Question time, a much loved part of many of Amanda’s shows, was unfortunately missed and replaced with an attempt to create qualitiative interaction with a tipsy audience.
I love Amanda Palmer, so unsurprisingly I was in heaven. The few songs she performed were fantastic, and even included one she wrote in the dressing room because her fans had harangued her to write a song about New Zealand. She performed a good cross section of her music, from ‘Half Jack’ (early days of her old band, the Dresden Dolls) to ‘Leeds United’ (new solo stuff). She courted requests a few times, a Hindenburg of an idea when she was “too shy” for new music and couldn’t remember all the words to older stuff. Gee whiz, Amanda. Life is tough. You book this tour, and we all come out to scream that we love you, but you’re totally unprepared to perform. Why don’t you just have a set list, like most performers, if you’re only willing to perform a few specific songs?
Amanda Palmer’s performances used to go so far as to include local drama students, with the aim of creating a real show instead of just a band performance. On top of that, the Dresden Dolls’ performances were electrifying in themselves. This show, we did get a story, and a lot of talking, but by her standards this show was weak. Introduction of the story felt awkward and uncomfortable, although the reading itself was glorious. Neil Gaiman, fiance and cult author extraordinaire, had a hand in her new book and the physical thing was a masterpiece.
The crowd was pretty neat and we all loved the show. All love and hugs and no pushing. Both the staff and venue made the night fantastic for all of us. The random beams which still punctuate the floor of Bodega will never leave, but everywhere has its fallbacks.
So I’m torn. It was nothing to what I thought it’d be. I’m not sure a show filled with false starts and a bit of diversity is better than a whole lot more music with less diversity. I still loved it, because, well, it’s Amanda Palmer, and even those who had never heard of her before loved it, so I can still see her as better than most performers out there. In all honesty, she could have done better. But I don’t think anyone there would have given up that night for the world.