Amanda Palmer

Amanda Palmer is one of the coolest people I can think of, and she writes great music too. Plus she's friends with Neil Gaiman. I saw her play at the Electric Ballroom in Camden a little while ago. This is what I thought:

Leonine and wild, Amanda Palmer straddles her stool and proceeds to belt the piano into submission. Accompanied by dark mime troupe The Danger Ensemble, she is at the Electric Ballroom to play songs from her first solo album, ‘Who Killed Amanda Palmer?’

It is a powerful show. She is a skilful keyboardist with a low, driving voice which occasionally breaks into cheeky yelps. A couple of the songs meander a little, and she is certainly at her best when accompanied by the fantastic violin of Chester Lyndon, whose jerky, uneven melodies add depth and variety to the percussive piano. Stand out track Oasis, though, is one she plays alone, and tonight it has an emotional power not immediately obvious on the over-polished single.

This show is about more than the music, though. A wonderfully intimate performer, mistakes, experimentation and chats with the audience are part of the charm. An on-stage proposal has the audience cooing, whilst the auctioning of a painting (so that the struggling Danger Ensemble can eat for a few days more) manages to be both lucrative and funny.

The Danger Ensemble themselves are adept performers, adding genuine comedy to Dresden Doll’s track Coin Operated Boy, and dark illustrations to more than a few tracks.

This is a fine show, and here’s to hoping that at least one major radio station agrees to play Oasis (it has been banned by all but BBC6, apparently for making light of rape, abortion and religion).

Support band detektivbyrån were described by Palmer as ‘like a wonderful tripping movie soundtrack come to life’. That is a little generous for a band who may be ironically light and insubstantial, but are light and insubstantial nonetheless.