DRESDEN DOLLS February 6, 2005 THE SPACE Portland, Maine AMANDA PALMER- vocals & piano BRIAN VIGLIONE - drums & guitars & vocals JOEL SIMCHES - live sound engineer PHOTOS by SHERI HAUSEY PART ONE (follow link at bottom for part two) The Space Show The performance at The Space is the closest to a loft party with the Dolls that I'm likely to experience. I've been here before and loved the downtown art "scenester" vibe. So when I had to make a choice between the recent Northeast gigs, this was an easy one for me. The intimacy of the Space, the sense that one's just been invited over for an evening of mad music, the knowledge that this "sit on the edge of the stage we're all friends here" setting will surely become a rarity as the Dolls play larger venues, all this creates a special sense of anticipation. Not surprisingly the stage is ringed by videographers and photogs. From the first chords of "Good Day" the pied pipers take over. Its the dramatic shifts of the set's composition that makes this lunge toward the cliff a particularly pleasant total loss of objective self-awareness. One is pulled forward by the joy of the familiar tune, by the unconscious sing-a-long. One is knocked out of that moment into an arousing altered emotional state by the elevated pitch of the new--Brian and Amanda ripping through PJ Harvey's "Rid of Me." PJ's tune is itself the perfected blueprint for the ensnaring structure of a sink and swell song. Brian's high pitched rendition of PJ's "lick my legs I'm on fire, lick my legs of desire" refrain licks the crowd in all the right places. The Dolls slice reality thin on the stage's razor edge. But then there are the hushed moments when Amanda goes solo, when each individual sensor hones in on her beacon. Amanda's explanatory preamble sets the stage. This is a new song, not even Brian has ever heard it before. She's playing it for all of us for the first time and there's Brian, truly one with the audience. With his arms wrapped around his knees he pulls them close to his chest and, like the rest of us, waits in hushed anticipation. And just when we've succumbed to that Sorceress of the Sublime, the duo plugs back in and electrocutes us in mass with Black Sabbath's "War Pigs." What a shock treatment for the soul ! What a shock treatment for rock 'n' roll! MORE MORE MORE CLICK NEXT ARROW TO SEE MORE DRESDEN DOLLS at THE SPACE & BACK ARROW for REGINA SPEKTOR BACK - HOME - NEXT see dresden dolls photos from other shows sherihausey.com/dresdendolls SHERI HAUSEY writer - photographer - latin teacher click below to see other photos by sheri mission of burma | consonant einsturzende neubauten | circuit bent festival holger czukay | mel the cat dresden dolls | sunburned hand of the man black keys | pj harvey more photos orgy of noise | website design by btm SHERIHAUSEY.com