Sobota 16 Wrz 2006, 4:47
I saw The Dresden Dolls in Hamburg two weeks ago and STILL haven't written about it. I'm slow, I'm slow, I know. Blah. I'll change that now.
It was amazing, of course.
Hamburg is pretty far away from where I live, so I had lots of time to listen to all Dolls albums in chronological order and during A is for Accident I thought it would be absolutely wonderful if they played Glass Slipper. THEY DID.
But first, I met the people from the German Dolls Forum/The Brigade. It was the pure punk cabaret love =)
I ended up half-brigading too. I persuaded all people who came to do the hopscotch. I was not all successful, but it was cool nevertheless. :) Apart from that, we had BUBBLES, a wonderful statue, wonderful stilt people with watering cans and … just watch the Brigade video. Honestly, do. And appreciate the Bubbles. They're from Denmark.
Later, later we went in the bunker, where the show was. And to the fourth floor. I'm happy to say I never had to take stairs but went with the lift - much cooler and full of bubbles.
I was too late to really see Edward Ka-Spel. That was sad because a) he seemed cool b) everyone (=surgicalorigami & ninthdiamond) was jealous I got to see him and c) Amanda stood on the side of the stage all the time, with Brian and looked Completely Happy.
Then, he left. And I talked to people from the Brigade and to some who did the hopscotch thing. They were cool.
THEN THE DOLLS CAME AND PLAYED THESE SONGS:
Sex Changes
Gravity
Backstabber
Coin-Operated Boy
Mein Herr (video here)
Amsterdam
Good Day
Mrs. O
Glass Slipper
Seeräuber Jenny which transitioned into
Girl Anachronism
Encore
Missed Me (w/ Edward Ka-Spel)
Half Jack
Encore 2
Two-Headed Boy
I need to mention I stood pretty close to the front. Thanks to the bubbles. Someone had the great idea that we should blow bubbles while trying to get to the front because we would seem important and necessary for the show. We did, we ended up in the second row. I love bubbles.
Maybe I just can't really tell from the live recordings and my memory of the Cologne show vanished, but I really think there was LOTS (as in, more than usual) energy. By the time they started playing Gravity I knew this would be awesome.
I wont tell about everything that happened, but some things:
The intro of Coin-Operated Boy was long, awesome and featured Für Elise, if I remember correctly.
Mein Herr was the BEST THING. Amanda and Brian came really close to where the Brigade and me stood, so of course they were bombarded with bubbles. Amanda screamed and ran away. Mein Herr itself was great too, of course. Watch the video, watch.
Amsterdam made me think of Valiero, who loves that cover and was sad the Dolls didn't play it in Toulouse.
Mrs. O was dedicated to Günter Grass and DAMN, I've never heard it played with so much emotion. I'm sure of that.
And it's one of the songs I've seen them play myself before. In Cologne. Before I had to leave.
Glass Slipper! Nastasia (the woman with the umbrella and awesome costume doing the hopscotch, in case you watched the video (DO!)) and I melted. I nearly cried. It was beautiful, beautiful and so incredible . And then Nastasia pulled out the sparklers. DAMN. The whole front third of the audience held sparklers.
One of the best parts of the show for sure.
And then they started playing Seeräuber-Jenny and Nastasia and I squealed some more.
Und wenn dann der Kopf fällt… sag ich… Hoppla!
And then Seeräuber-Jenny became Girl A and oh god!! and then they left the stage and I wondered why they had only played so few songs! :D
They came back and started playing Missed Me. With Edward Ka-Spell. It was SO brilliant. They had changed the lyrics so that Edward sang one verse (If you kiss me, sister!) and then Amanda the other one. Edward Ka-Spell was great, how we was on stage and was the screwed guy and weird and interaction with Brian and Amanda oh god! And Amanda's expression. I wish it was recorded. Actually, it was. The camera guy stood close to me, but I wish I'd get the video. NOW.
Then Half Jack, which was as wonderful as ever, and then we clapped for ages and they came back and played Two-Headed Boy. Not my favourite cover, but it was nice :)
And then we clapped and screamed and were loud again. For over ten minutes. They didn't come back. Apparently, there was a party in that club afterwards and people came on stage and put the drums away and unplugged a lot of things — which did not keep the audience from shouting ZUGABE and EINS MEHR :D and A CAPELLA!! (:D when the instruments were carried away) and they really should have played one more song, but they didn't. :(
It was beautiful anyway.
I got to "talk" to Amanda and Brian, which wasn't much talking because my brain switched off and AH. I got my T-Shirt signed though.
Afterwards: Sidewalk twister and hot chocolate with the wonderful brigaders.
I love the Dresden Dolls.