Scissor Sisters @ Bowery 4/22: Painting the Ballroom Pink

Last night, I officially became a gay man for three hours. I lusted over Jake Shears' body, I wanted to be Ana Matronic, and I lost my shit more than any queen there when I saw Cher. That's right, motherfucking Cher was in the house. CHER. After I saw her, my excitement level jumped and honey, I was dancing only for you. Holy shit, I've never needed a shower so badly after a show like I did after last night's. All we needed were a few whistles and glow sticks and that place was a gay club. It was fantastic. I swear I must have lost five pounds dancing with more gay boys then I have in a very long while.

When I lived in Scotland last year, you couldn't escape 'Filthy/Gorgeous' on the radio and when you came to my room, if you didn't knock first, you would have seen me dancing around to 'Laura' just about year round. I've never been to a Scissor Sisters' show before so needless to say, I was very excited. And they did not disappoint.

I was surprised at how glam rock the guys were. I felt like I was in the film Velvet Goldmine* and Jake (real name Jason oddly enough) was Brian Slade. Ana Matronic was in a fab seventies style halter, Jake was in a glittery two piece ('Take off the shirt!' some girl screamed to my left in the middle of the show. 'It's coming!' said Jake and pointed out his trainer in the balcony thanking him for his banging bod.) and there were not one, but four disco balls hovering over the stage. The band are just wrapping a new album and thus performed a mix of old and new songs. The stand out new track is without a doubt, 'I don't feel like dancing.' It's incredibly catchy and great to dance to. It gave everyone a second wind after a couple of slower songs and really got the crowd excited for the encore, 'Filthy/Gorgeous.'

I didn't go upstairs for the opener Leslie and the Lys, but according to my friend who did, they were pretty out of this world. Tiga dj'ed before and after the show so the floor was pretty packed a good twenty minutes before the Scissor Sisters came on. If you are going tonight you may want to keep that in mind. Oh and by the way, Cher loves Tiga, she clapped mightily when the band introduced him at the end of the show.

Everyone was still so jazzed after the band left, and Tiga was djing a great set, that lots of people stuck around to dance. My posse and me included for a bit. We were there with the three members of Band of York, including the keyboardist Paul who played on the first Scissor Sisters album and was just in the studio helping to record the new one. Paul went backstage after the show to say hi to the band and the manager told him that the only celeb in the house was Cher. I guess 'that guy from Prison Break', whom was seen in the bar before the show, doesn't count.




I couldn't get in hardly a single good shot from where I was at. If you want some great pictures, head over to Laura at the Modern Age. She's also got a review up and the setlist, which I've stolen: Take Your Mama/ I Can'’t Decide/ Tits on the Radio/ She's My Man/ Laura/ Paul McCartney/ Everybody Wants the Same Thing/ Kiss You Off/ Mary/ The Other Side/ I Don'’t Feel Like Dancing/ Comfortably Numb/ Music Is the Victim/ Land of a Thousand Words. ENCORE: Filthy Gorgeous

*If you haven't seen that film, do. It's great and really captures a lot of the glam scene, the passion behind it and it's downfall. Plus it's got Ewan McGregor, Jonathan Rhys Meyers and Christian Bale, if that's not reason enough then I don't know what is.
____________________________

In honour of Cher, here's one of my favourite tracks of her's. A cover of 'Walking in Memphis'

Also, thanks to Disco-not-disco, here is Tiga's remix of the Scissor Sister's 'Comfortably Numb.'