Celebrating life with Amanda Palmer
There were grand plans to attend multiple Amanda Palmer gigs. Starting in New Zealand, continuing through Sydney and culminating in Melbourne, my home town. I've never contemplated following an artist on tour around before, but I suspected AFP would not put on the same show in every city - that they would be carefully designed for the place and the communities that filled the halls. And where else can we embrace our relative anonymity and love of life than as a member of the audience - dancing, swaying, singing, jumping, holding the hands of strangers in a non-creepy, non-rapey way...
I was looking to embrace the places where I feel most alive, for reasons that are probably too personal to explore here. And that is listening to music, to being part of something much larger than yourself, to feeling this sense of belonging. These are the moments our existence means something.
Life and work intervened. Four gigs became one. And then a crazy last minute decision saw me flying to Adelaide for the last stop on the tour.
It's impossible to remember everything, of course. Experiences become moments. Moments become memories, hazy in our minds, tinted rose by the passing of time. But the memories of these shows... the highlights reel follows:
The cheers at the Forum on seeing AFP appear with the infamous Tony Abbott t-shirt and Die Roten Punkte. Please let the t-shirts be added as tour merchandise on AFP's Australian return.
Chad Raines claiming #chadelaide, herding a stage interloper off stage, head-butting him while continuing to play guitar. He later claimed my heart with a hug and a signature of my The Simple Pleasure CD. He made another girl's night by pulling her up on stage and then signing her boob. Heart breaker!
Missy Higgins performing an unreleased track (I Can't Find You) for an appreciative Melbourne audience, while Kate Miller Heidke made the Forum soar with laughter as she performed Are You F*cking Kidding Me (The Facebook Song).
Jherek Bischoff performing a multiple musician piece on a ukelele in Melbourne. Made me fervently wish I hadn't been too jet lagged to make it to the Toff the night before. After witnessing his solo magic, I was blown away by the follow up in Adelaide. The addition of the strings gave his performance another level of intensity. I will not be missing a solo performance of his in Australia again, if I can help it!
Meanwhile, over in Adelaide, the guest antics continued with full frontal nudity! Jonathan and Anne from the Daredevil Chicken Club entertained with vaudevillian slapstick. Who knew costume changes could be so risque? ;)
All of these are without really mentioning the headline act. Simply put, Amanda lights up the stage with this incredible presence. In Melbourne, the performance was electric. The sold out Forum Theatre became this single entity, a tribe united behind love and appreciation for the performance that was not only unfolding in front of us but that we were actively participating in. From the rock anthems of Smells Like Teen Spirit to Do It With a Rockstar, to covers of Sweet Dreams and Common People, to taking it down a notch to Lost and a beautiful duet with Brendan Maclean covering Bat for Lashes' Laura, the tribe bellowed their lungs out or listened with the utmost respect, whichever action was more fitting.
In Adelaide, Amanda readily admitted, it's the end of tour, the voice is broken, gone, but still, she stood, belting out track after track, encouraging the audience to help her out and sing along to The Killing Type, sharing stories of how she had resisted temptation to show fourteen year old 1D fans what real music was while re-branding One Direction One Erection, offering a crowd vote on the rapidly changing set list, once again creating a tribe who were ready to follow her from rock anthem to something more intimate, a surprise crafted in the lobby of Thebarton by an exhausted performer who had given everything of herself that evening and still wanted the audience to have more. We took - perhaps selfishly, but the audience gave back too, with respect, and love, and hugs, and laughter, and singing, and living entirely in that moment... and the buying of merchandise at AFP's request as the musical portion of the evening drew to a close. It still wasn't over, with Amanda remaining to sign for every fan that wanted to meet her, even if it was only for a second.
I scrawled a letter while travelling to Adelaide for AFP. Managed to overcome my fear to give it to her at her signing. Letter writing is becoming somewhat a dying art. Truthfully I doubted my ability to verbalise anything meaningful at the point of meeting her, and... I can't really explain it. I wanted to make sure she knew how appreciative I was of her art, and how much some of her music has helped me (and others) to deal with the curve balls life keeps throwing. In hindsight, it seems a little fangirly now. I guess I'm OK with that.
I travelled alone to the Adelaide gig, and flying solo is always a little bit scary at gigs, particularly if you're an introvert. But I met so many people, so many lovely people. Bec and Aaron helped mind my place in the line outside, and saved me a spot up the front. Bags were passed to us to mind - a huge leap of trust as the moshing crowd transported people far from their original location. I gave my ticket stub to someone in line who didn't have anything else for AFP to sign, the merchandise booth long since closed. Candy was offered in exchange. Others (Bec and Tilly) shared sharpies so that Chad and Jherek could sign other bits of merchandise (and body parts). Barry Lenny, a reviewer from Adelaide, was overcome at how respectful the crowd was of the strings performers. I got to meet both Chad and Jherek. I spoke to Otto Rot from Die Roten Punkte for a while about their movie plans. I've always known that the AFP community was special - ever since receiving my name scrawled on a page of the Yellow Pages in the mail from Cara in Canada... but these gigs just underlined the magic of the tribe.
Both gigs were so special and amazing in their own way. I feel privileged to have been in a position to be able to see both of them, particularly at the last minute. I have my fingers crossed that house parties may continue into 2014 and that I might be lucky enough to host / attend one!
Amanda Palmer and Brendan Maclean perform Laura at Melbourne's Forum Theatre: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQGb0yofPG4
A selection of snaps from Melbourne's Forum Theatre: http://justkyp.tumblr.com/post/61901280264/a-selection-of-snaps-from-amanda-palmers
More snaps from Adelaide's Thebarton Theatre: http://justkyp.tumblr.com/post/62319893272/more-snaps-this-time-from-adelaide-of-amanda
Amanda Palmer twerking with Otto Rot from Die Roten Punkte: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KwbRSGUJd0g
Amanda Palmer and the Grand Theft Orchestra perform From St Kilda to Fitzroy in Adelaide: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BDee2W_T-dI
Amanda Palmer and the Grand Theft Orchestra perform Trout Heart Replica in Adelaide: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MYCCXcAMtqE
