I think my favorite of Roisin Murphy's many costume changes was a plaid jacked that had a life-size deer built into it, which she accessorized with a plaid antler hat. Ms. Murphy had a different outfit for just about every song for her American solo debut at West Side mega-club Mansion. There was also a black feather cape that kind of made her look like a turkey, and a fur coat that resembled angel wings.
I knew that this show had been upgraded from Hiro Ballroom to Mansion but I didn't know how big Mansion was going to be (very big) and how many people were going to be crammed in there (probably 700?). You could not move it was so packed. There were people on the balconies, the stairs, most of them way more dressed up than I was. And most of them were super-fans. Who knew?
The last time I saw her she was playing Knitting Factory on Moloko's first tour. This was much more of a production. Back-up singers, full band, projections, and those insane outfits. But Murphy has enough personality -- not to mention those pipes -- that she could have wowed us wearing a potato sack. She seemed to be loving every minute of it and the crowd recipricated. We got almost a two-hour show, mostly from Murphy's 2007 album, Overpowered (one of my Best of the Year picks), including "You Know Me Better," "Let Me Know" and "Dear Miami." My favorite moment was "Primitive," which got a hard rock ending that really worked, and Roisin can bang her head with the best of them.
I wish we'd gotten some different songs off her first solo album that "Ramalama" and "Ruby Blue" but the album's herky-jerky rhythms might have made a difficult translation to her current dance workout asthetic. (Still, it would've been nice to hear "Sow Into You" and "If We're In Love") And the crowd woulda went bonkers for "Sing it Back" but I don't think anyone left thinking she didn't give it her all.
SETLIST: Cry Baby / You Know Me Better / Checking up / Dear Miami / Primitive / Ruby Blue / Movie Star / Forever More / Let Me Know / Overpowered / ENCORE: Tell Everybody / Ramalama
MP3: Roisin Murphy - Overpowered
MP3: Roisin Murphy - So Into You
There are more, out-of-focus pictures (damn smoke machines baffle my Powershot's autofocus) on my Flickr. Buy some of Roisin's music won't you? Overpowered is finally going to get a U.S. release in January and word is she'll be back for an actual American tour in March.
So jealous.
Posted by: Eduardo | Monday, October 27, 2008 at 10:52 AM