This’ll Be The Last Time I Ever Do Your Hair!

Scissor Sisters @ Bowery Ballroom 1/10/2004

Take Your Mama Out / Better Luck Next Time / Laura / New Song (“Forever Right Now”?) / Tits On The Radio / New Song (no clue what the title for this could be – the words “skin” and “sin” came up a few times) / New Song (“Magnifique”?) / Mary / Comfortably Numb / Music Is The Victim // Rock My Spot (b-side to a forthcoming single) / Filthy & Gorgeous (with special guest Fred Schneider of the B52s!)

Oh wow. Now that’s how it’s done! It was an amazing show, and immediately one of my favorite concert experiences ever. The most obvious thing to comment on would be Jake Shears’ and Ana Matronic’s incredible starpower. They are the hottness personified. We’re talking Andre 3000-level charisma here, folks. I’m very impressed by Shears’ ability to completely own the stage without resorting to the same old “I’m pretending to be a rock star” choreography that lesser frontmen fall into these days – he seems utterly natural onstage, as does the rest of the band, in spite of their obvious stylistic excess. Ana Matronic’s role in the band is somewhat similar to that of Neko Case in the New Pornographers – she sings a lot of back up vocals, dances, nearly steals the show with her lone lead vocal number (“Tits on the Radio”), and charms the crowd with witty between-song banter.

As a band, they are tight and professional, but loose enough to not sound too karaoke. They clearly thrive on the energy of the audience, and last night’s crowd was one of the most attractive, dance-happy, and enthusiastic audiences that I’ve ever been a part of. In addition to songs from the forthcoming record, they played a few newer unreleased numbers which were all fantastic. The one which I suspect is called “Forever Right Now” is sort of like “Take Your Mama Out” gone cod-raggae, and the one I think is called “Magnifique” is a full-on disco floor-filler. They can’t release that one soon enough, really, but it’d be wasted if it weren’t an a-side. Fred Schneider’s guest appearance on “Filthy & Gorgeous” was a great surprise – he danced around, flirted with Jake and Ana, and sang on the chorus – “Fillll-THAY!” “Gorrr-JUSS!”

I’m sorry if this is all coming out like pure gush, but I feel as though I can’t overstate how great they were. If they come to your town, please make the effort to see them live. If you’re into them at all, your estimation of them will no doubt improve. I went into that show loving them, and now I feel like some kind of fanatic.

The opening acts were fabulous too – Opti-Grab were extremely entertaining, and pulled off their somewhat limited late-80s rap/booty music schtick as best as anyone possibly could have. For them, the key was that they were totally commited to what they were doing – absolutely nothing about their act was half-assed, and they clearly put in a great deal of work and practice. They were slick and polished entertainers rather than an amateurish joke band. Like the Scissor Sisters, they also completely own the stage during their set, especially the girl, T$, who seems as though she’s been at this her whole life. I meant to buy a copy of their album, but by the time I got to their merch table, it was all sold out. I did manage to get one song to share here, the somewhat atypical “Daddy,” which lacks rapping altogether, but was nonetheless a highlight of their show.

In between the Opti-Grab and Scissor Sisters sets, we were treated to a dance routine by two friends of the Scissor Sisters, Christie Love and a flamboyantly gay Korean dude called Tai Chi Alfonso, who just may be the best dancer I’ve ever seen. Their entire skit was prerecorded and all of their dialogue was lip synched, and they used a gigantic fake iPod as a prop. They were really funny, and suited the mood of the night rather well.