Friday, March 25th 2011
Shows: Scissor Sisters
Scissor Sisters Burn Barns In Tulsa
When I first heard the Scissor Sisters back in 2004, they sounded like a mixture of glam rock and honky tonk with a dash of dance music for good measure. More than half a decade later, the group has morphed into a much more dance-oriented act, and are now campier than ever.
Luckily, they’ve got the goods to back it up. They are currently doing a mixed tour, opening for Lady Gaga some nights and headlining their own shows in cities where Gaga isn’t playing. I recently caught a solo headlining show at Tulsa’s Cain’s Ballroom, where the Sisters burned through just under 2 hours of their most well-known songs and a heavy dose of material from last year’s Night Work.
The band opened with the title track from that very album, with lead vocalists Jake Shears and Ana Matronic rushing on stage wearing skin tight leather clothes (a body suit and a dress, respectively). When listening to the song live, Jake’s vocal performance would occasionally channel a strange mixture of Elton John and Freddie Mercury, and the song served as a great way to get the crowd excited.
Laura was up next, garnering a huge response from the strange mixture of an audience. Directly behind the barrier was a row of bears (you know, of the gay variety), and behind that the rest of the crowd was filled with other gay men, lesbians, their friends and a hipster or two sprinkled in to even things out.
Regardless, all of these groups sang Laura with Shears as he trounced around the stage. The band is campy in appearance and Jake and Ana are among the campiest of all stage performers, but the band’s instrumentalists kept the song from morphing into a half-time performance at a drag show. It’s a very fine line that the Scissor Sisters walk.
Harder You Get is perhaps the most Queen-like of all Scissor Sisters songs, with Shears alternating between a deep speaking voice and what literally sounded like the ghost of Freddie Mercury escaping between his lips. Guitarist Del Marquis’ even joined in on the channeling of Queen, with a guitar tone that sounded exactly like that of Brian May. The song got a great reaction from the crowd and is definitely one of the best on Night Work, so it’s good to see that it translates well live.
Take Your Mama got the biggest reaction from the crowd of the night, and had everyone in the venue singing along. It’s one of the most recognizable gay anthems from the last decade, and each time a chorus started you could hear the crowd swell into a giant mass of falsetto singing. It was almost hard to hear the band over the crowd, but the band played a faithful rendition of what is probably their biggest song here in America.
Skin This Cat saw Ana Matronic take over on lead vocals while Jake Shears joined the two female back-up singers at the back of the stage. Ana moved around the stage slowly, acting out some of the lyrics while Babydaddy’s bass line caused the song to slowly groove along.
Comfortably Numb (yes, a Pink Floyd cover) was also incredibly well done, turning into a much longer version than the one available as a studio recording on 2004’s Scissor Sisters LP. Jake’s falsetto was flawless, and Del did a good job performing his own take on the iconic guitar solo. The song is significantly different than Pink Floyd’s original, ditching any rock elements from the rhythm section and replacing them with a disco beat. The cover definitely isn’t for everyone, but the crowd in Tulsa had no problem dancing and singing along.
After an encore break, the band came back out for a great version of 2006’s I Don’t Feel Like Dancin’ and Invisible Light from Night Work. I Don’t Feel Like Dancin’ was co-written with Elton John, and everything from Jake’s vocal performance to the chord progression reminded the crowd of that fact.
Invisible Light was a surprising highlight of the show. I wasn’t crazy about it on the album but it definitely translates well live, with the booming bass and simple yet effective drums powering along behind the brutal synth work. A guest appearance by Sir Ian McKellen (recorded, not live) played just as it does on the album, while Jake and Ana ran off stage to go change their outfits up a little bit. McKellen’s speech sounds a whole lot like Vincent Price’s work on MJ’s Thriller, but it was gone almost as fast as it started. Jake and Ana ran back out on the stage to finish the song in their new outfits, and the concert slowly came to an end.
Many may be turned off by the campy style the band oozes, but they’ve got the musical chops to back it up and put on one hell of a show. I’m not sure why the band hasn’t ever caught on in the U.S. like they have in Europe, but seeing them in such an intimate venue was definitely worth the ticket price. They have a few dates left with Gaga before branching off on their own tour (including a stop at Coachella), so if you have the chance don’t hesitate to check them out.
Setlist: Night Work, Laura, Any Which Way, She’s My Man, Tits On The Radio, Harder You Get, Running Out, Take Your Mama, Kiss You Off, Skin Tight, Skin This Cat, Fire With Fire, Paul McCartney, Comfortably Numb (Pink Floyd cover), Night Life, Filthy/Gorgeous, I Don’t Feel Like Dancin’, Invisible Light
