Patrick Wolf at Highline Ballroom (June 23th, 2009)
Patrick Wolf at Highline Ballroom (June 23rd, 2009)
Originally uploaded by Amanda M Hatfield.
Patrick Wolf put on an absolutely amazing show at the Highline Ballroom last night. This was the first live show I have been to since seeing Apocalyptica in Hartford and it certainly is hard to follow up from them but Patrick Wolf definitely did so!
Patrick Wolf is ultra talented. He's only 25 and he is the equivalent of the modern day David Bowie. Hailing from the UK as well, he plays 12+ instruments, has amazing voice control, and all the glam and attitude.
The venue itself, The Highline Ballroom (located around Chelsea) was laid back...almost too laid back to seem professional. I picked up my tickets via will call naturally, but no one checked to see that I was 21+ or to check my bags upon entry. The venue itself is pretty small and standing room only. There is a stage with a small area for a DJ off to the left and a few bars on the left and right and a small upstairs area. They had a huge problem with the microphones blowing out especially on the vocalists and changing the bands between sets. It really shouldn't take 30-40min to change instruments and conduct a sound test between each band! There were actually supposed to be 4 bands playing but they took so long between the sets that Jaguar Love never came on!
The concert started off with the French band The Plasticines. They were cute and were fun to listen and dance to. They played a bunch of covers and a couple of their hit songs. They ended their set by pointing out someone in the audience who wasn't clapping/showing some love followed by their final song, "Bitch".
Next was the band Living Things. The band was is okay, but kind of like something you hear everyday-hardly a complement to a tour with Patrick Wolf! I looked them up online prior to the show, and I was excited because of the biker look and sort of dark sound (kind of think HIM), but the live performance was a slight disappointment due to the poor vocals.
Then after Living Things, we were expecting to see Jaguar Love next but then we saw the stage crew bring out instruments like a piano, violin, dulcimer and ukulele, and knew it was time for Patrick Wolf. He ascended the stage wearing a leather frock that had looked like it had plumes of feathers while performing his new single, "Vulture". After the first few songs, he stopped playing to yell at the sound crew for the bad microphones. He said, "Some say I'm a diva, but I just have standards". I loved that! Way to go Patrick!
He was such an entertaining performer. It wasn't like going to a rock concert and moshing and screaming and throwing metal horns in all directions. It was more like an intimate gathering between fans and admirers. It's not to say that there weren't songs that you could jump around and dance to, but there was a heavy emphasis on the feeling/emotion behind each piece...a true Cancer!