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Scissor Sisters...
review Roll up! Roll For the sassiest freakshow on earth! The Scissor Sisters are back in town for the third time in seven months, and this time it’s personal...February’s gig had the freaks out in force, May saw a more sedate crowd, and August - well August sees several thousand Brighton folk taking up the Scissor Sisters’ invitation to dress fancy, hence the feather boas, trilbies and Abigail’s Party dresses a la Ana Matronic. It’s hen night meets office party meets Rocky Horror with the odd electroslut thrown in, and everyone’s very, very excited. So excited in fact that they cheer when the roadies come on, and then just scream at an empty stage. There’s no support act and first inkling of the Scissor Sisters’ arrival is Dolly Parton’s ‘Baby I’m Burning’ whipping up a storm: “Hot as a pistol of flaming desire / Baby I'm burning / You got me on fire." "It’s hen night meets office
party meets Rocky Horror with the odd electroslut thrown in" And there they are. Jake is wearing a clone hat and red shorts with a slit up the sides. He starts to ride the disco pony and refuses to dismount all night. First number is ‘Take Your Mama Out’, appropriately enough as the concert hall’s full of sweet boys and their adoring mothers - the Scissor Sisters’ appeal in a nutshell. “2004 is the year of the bear..." is Babydaddy’s introduction, and Ana Matronic comes with the warning: “the only person on stage with two pussies". Jake is described as the ‘pied piper’of something, only we can’t hear because the crowd are screaming so feverishly. Maybe it’s being all dressed up with somewhere to go, but the crowd let their hair right down to their ankles. They “Shaow-mon, Shaow-mon" to ‘Laura’ with vengeance and lighters sway faux-meaningfully for ballad ‘Mary’. ‘Comfortably Numb’ sends the crowd apoplectic with disco-fuelled joy; indeed, we’d expect nothing less. "Jake starts to ride
the disco pony and refuses to dismount all night" Jake goes off to get his shorts re-strung while Ana Matronic ably entertains the crowd. On his returns she winks: “Time to put my stud out to pasture..." and plays bullfighter to Shears’ bull with a discarded piece of her skirt. ‘Filthy Gorgeous’ leaves not a still shoe in the room, the balcony bouncing up and down precariously under pogoing feet. It’s the chemistry of Shears and Matronic, goading each other on to dizzy new heights of disco depravity, that’s so compelling. That and an unparalleled ability to work a crowd: “You guys look fucking amazing...it’s like the muppets...can we bring the lights up...let your freak flag fly motherfuckers!" Encore is a Shears solo with Babydaddy on keyboards, (here my notes let me down as all I’ve recorded, cryptically, is: “JS kinky Haiwatha look"). Then the entire band return for ‘It Can’t Come Quickly Enough’. Shears is dressed in a dollar bill catsuit and they’re accompanied by a wrestler, a power ranger, a couple of mummies, an abominable snowman, and one of Jabba the Huts sleazy disco pals. "Shears is dressed in a dollar bill catsuit
accompanied by a wrestler, a power ranger, a couple of mummies, an abominable snowman, and one of Jabba the Huts sleazy disco pals" Then they are gone and the punters file out agog. We skip off to the aftershow party at Tzar Bar organised by Rob, Brighton’s own Babydaddy disco bear. By the time the band arrive we’re finding all the complimentary booze most accomodating, and slavver over these New York dolls, papping occasionally with our cameras. It seems the decent thing to do. Somehow we find ourselves in a cab speeding to the band’s hotel, where we continue to drink. And drink. And ddhrink. And rug-surf in the hallway. Nothing else really happened - no snorting coke off a lapdancing platypus’ bill, eating kitten’s whiskers dipped in crystal meth from a jewel-encrusted saucer or any of the 101 decadent Studio 54 style antics you might expect from the Scissor Sisters. Most of the band repaired to their rooms on arrival, except Jake who hung out awhile having his feet massaged and then retired too - nothing happening here, move along now. The real spectacle was undoubtedly the show, the on-stage chemistry and the interaction with the crowd. And thus it seems fitting to end with some words from the band: “Ladies and gents, we are the Scissor Sisters and so are you!"
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