Is It The Music That Connects Me To You?

Scissor Sisters @ The Grand Ballroom at the Manhattan Center 10/21/2006
Take Your Mama / I Can’t Decide / Tits On The Radio / She’s My Man / Laura / Lights / Paul McCartney / Kiss You Off / Everybody Wants The Same Thing / Mary / Comfortably Numb / Music Is The Victim / Land Of A Thousand Words // I Don’t Feel Like Danson / Filthy/Gorgeous

Scissor Sisters “Making Ladies” – The Grand Ballroom, a relatively luxurious (well, it’s sorta pretty and carpeted…) banquet hall seven floors above the Hammerstein Ballroom is a very strange place to have a pop concert, and not just because of the fact that an emergency evacuation would’ve been a total nightmare. Though it was a pleasant place, there was something a bit off about the vibe of the room, and the muted, not-quite-loud-enough acoustics seemed to exaggerate the problems of a show that occasionally seemed to lose its connection with the audience. As with every other Scissor Sisters show that I’ve seen, the crowd was enthusiastic, and the band worked hard to uphold a standard of performance and spectacle well above that of most other contemporary acts, but in comparison to those other shows, something seemed dialed down in this gig, and I’m relatively certain that it wasn’t just my own skewed perception.

For one thing, the band seemed a bit exhausted from having played the same setlist a few too many times in a row on an international tour that’s been in progress for a few months now. Though the song selection was strong, the pacing of the set was often a bit stiff and predictable, and sometimes awkward, as when the band tacked the gorgeous “Land of a Thousand Words” on at the end of the set following a rowdy and climactic “Music Is The Victim,” making the latter song seem like an afterthought rather than the melodramatic finale that it could have been. Personally, I would’ve just slotted “Land of a Thousand Words” as the first song in the encore, since jumping straight into “I Don’t Feel Like Dancin'” didn’t feel quite right either.

It would also be a good idea for them to reserve a spot in the set where they can loosen up a bit and play something a little less expected — perhaps a cover song, or maybe a quick number with just Babydaddy and Jake, or a pass at the delightfully campy and bizarre “Making Ladies” from the Ta Dah bonus disc. The band are always fun and lively, but they ought to be more playful in the performance, and not just with the stage banter, which is always very humorous and involving. Of course, since they dedicated “Lights” to this girl, I’m probably always going to associate the tune with dismemberment, which is a pretty strange thing for a homoerotic Beegees-ish disco number.

Though some selections didn’t quite connect with the audience — “Mary” in particular was received with widespead indifference — the ones that did were absolutely wonderful, especially the extended version of my new favorite “Paul McCartney,” and my old favorite “Laura,” which has become more of a singalong anthem over time. “Everybody Wants The Same Thing” was almost too big for the room, but was more fun than any other time that I’ve seen them play it now that pretty much everyone knows the song. (Click here to buy it from Amazon.)

My DJ set @ Brooklyn Peace Fair Benefit, Supreme Trading 10/21/2006
Klanguage “Never Over” / Scissor Sisters “Paul McCartney” / Beyonce “Get Me Bodied” / Muscles “One Inch Badge Pin” / MSTRKRFT “She’s Good For Business” / Goldfrapp “Ride A White Horse” / Of Montreal “The Party’s Crashing Us (We Are The World Trade Center remix)” / In Flagranti “Genital Blue Room” / The Rapture “Whoo Alright Yeah Uh Huh” / Basement Jaxx “Where’s Your Head At?” / Andrew WK “Party Hard” / The Knife “We Share Our Mothers’ Health (Trentemoller remix)” / Bossanova “Rare Brazil” / Maxi Geil & Playcolt “Making Love In The Sunshine”

“We I played a show and (almost) no one came stayed / we I came and played it just the same / if there’s no ears then there’s no sound / if there’s no tree then there’s no ground.”

A Place To Bury Strangers “My Weakness” – The best thing about being at Supreme Trading on Saturday night was witnessing a set by A Place To Bury Strangers. If you can imagine a world in which nihilistic no wave and shoegazing drone was the dominant strain of rock music, A Place To Bury Strangers would be its version of a particularly great bar band. They opened with an intense cover of “Death Valley 69” that was nearly as good as seeing the song performed by Sonic Youth themselves, and ended with a compelling free form passage involving some kind of homemade device that made some of the most amazing noises that I’ve ever heard. Interestingly, their studio recordings don’t sound much like what they played live at all, trading an overwhelming din that was like the audio equivalent of a painting made of thick, shiny layers of black oil for something that comes off more like an aggressively bleak version of the Jesus & Mary Chain. (Click here for the A Place To Bury Strangers website.)