The People That You Meet Want To Open You Up Like Christmas

Scissor Sisters @ Hammerstein Ballroom 12/19/2004

Laura / Better Luck / Lovers In The Backseat / Tits On The Radio / The Skins / Magnifique / Rock My Spot (Crevice Canyon) / Mary / Comfortably Numb / Filthy/Gorgeous / Return To Oz // It Can’t Come Quickly Enough / Take Me Out / Take Your Mama / Music Is The Victim

Scissor Sisters “Magnifique (Live In Brighton)” – I don’t think that I’ve ever been in a better audience than the one for this Scissor Sisters show. Even up in the mezzanine, I was surrounded by enthusiastic, unselfconcious dance-happy people. Pretty much everybody in the house was dancing for “Comfortably Numb” and “Filthy/Gorgeous.” I’ve never seen an entire floor at a rock show move like that – it was very inspiring. Of course, this was a crowd who had been dancing right through VHS Or Beta (who were good, but sounded maybe a bit too much like old Cure dance remixes) and the between set DJs (who were fucking amazing, by the way) and were obviously waiting the whole night for those two songs to come on.

The Scissor Sisters totally deserved this audience – they gave exactly as good as they got. They were even tighter and more fabulous than they were when I last saw them waaaay back in January, with a level of showmanship rivaled by few others in the business. The show ended with an incredible spectacle – the stage filled with a dozen crazy dancers in costumes ranging from a human Christmas gift to topless reindeer-headed go-go dancers. As the song concluded, Jake Shears (dressed in silver tights like some kind of snow pixie) was being humped by a guy in a Santa Claus suit. I wish that I had some pictures of this. Either way, you kinda had to be there. (Click here to pre-order the live DVD from the Scissor Sisters official site.)

Tom Scharpling & Andy Earles “The Depressed Office Worker & The Christmas Party” – From the lofty heights of ecstacy we move on to the deepest, darkest depths of despair, as a caller tells Tom all about his miserable holiday season, including an anecdote about the most horrific (and hilarious) “Secret Santa” office Christmas party of all time. (Click here to visit the Best Show On WFMU website or here for Andy Earles’ site.)