Saturday, June 05, 2010

Evelyn/Evelyn
Featuring Amanda Palmer
and Jason Webley
The Great Hall
2010-06-04


Ecstatic about being out from under the clutches of Roadrunner records Amanda Palmer is taking her cabaret stylings on the road with a circus twist. Evelyn/Evelyn promises to be interesting, if nothing else.

Amanda's a peculiar niche artist, a combination of performance art and music. Purveyors of this genre of entertainment take a chance, everytime they step onstage, that the gathered few will just not get it. It takes a little moxy to get out on the end of the limb. (Similar artists, Vermillion Lies and Hank and Lily.)

The Great Hall is a vintage venue located on the vibrant Queen St West strip. Been standing since 1889 and now it serves as a magnet for the avante-guarde. A great marriage of artist and locale.

After the cacaphony of a short opening set by Sxip Shirey he stays on board to play the evenings MC and the oppressive overseer of the twins, The Great Scaphisto.

The girls are shy, and you can't really blame them, they've had a difficult life. They sing songs of passage, which in their case involves love and loathing. Yet underneath the seething animosity you can feel the emotional bond that keeps these sisters together.

I won't review their set because it's really a visual thing. You have to see this to truly appreciate the art. There are some excellent reviews of this show online, just go to googleblogs and search the girls. Check out this youtube documentary.

In what was a huge surprise we were treated to a couple extra sets after the girls had finished as both Jason Webley and Amanda Fucking Palmer had some time to spare after their afternoon tryst at The Drake Hotel.

Webley comes out strong; a big voice on this foot-stomping-accordionist. Lots of audience participation required for his set. First time in Toronto for Jason and I'm happy to report the enthusiastic crowd made him welcome.

Amanda Palmer is well loved by her circle of friends. This tour, if successful, may allow her to buy outer-clothes. It will be our loss. She seemed particularly excited about the upcoming release of her ukelele covers of Radiohead songs.

Here's a list of the songs they played:

Evelyn/Evelyn
w/ Sxip Sherey
Jason Webley
Amanda Palmer
The Great Hall
Toronto ON
2020-06-04

Sxip Sherey

I Live In New York City
Rain on the Roses

Evelyn and Evelyn Neville

Happy Birthday Evelyn
MC Intro
Evelyn Evelyn
Have You Seen My Sister, Evelyn?

MC Rap
The Tragic Events of September - Part 1
MC Rap
Chicken Man
You Only Want Me 'Cause You Want My Sister
The Chalice of Knowledge
Elephant Elephant
MC Rap/Interlude
Lean On Me
MC Rap
My Space
MC Rap/Encore Call
Love Will Tear Us Apart

Jason Webley

Dance While the Sky Crashes Down
There's Not A Step We Can Take That Does Not Bring Us Closer
Pork Goulash
? (new song or another song)
Icarus


Amanda Palmer

Astronaut
Missed Me
Ampersand
Amanda talks
High and Dry (Radiohead)
Amanda talks
Do You Swear
Amanda and Jason talk
Electric Blanket
Runs In the Family
Drinking Song

2 comments:

Billy said...

This may be a bit of false hope on my part, but would there be any way to get your full recording of this show? I was there two years ago and maintain it's the best concert I've ever been to. Killer performance. I'd love to be able to relive it.

Krewe Chief said...

billy, drop me an email at krewechief@live.ca and send you a link to download. you want mp3's or lossless files?