Patrick Wolf & Bishi @ Webster Hall: Silver & Gold

Donning a Rapunzel-esque blonde wig and a blue burka-like top, Patrick Wolf serenaded Webster Hall with unrivaled passion and beauty over the entirety of his eighty-minute set. Whereas the last few times I've seen P. Wolf he's focused on his current masterpiece, The Magic Position, last night's show highlighted his earlier work, in particular, his breathtaking sophomore LP, Wind In The Wires.

For the majority of the gig, Patrick seemed to be in an introspective and/or melancholic state of mind. Sharing detailed stories behind each song's origin, the troubadour bounced back and forth between his keyboard, ukelele and violin. The night felt like a invite-only reading into Patrick's personal journals during the last ten years. Having fallen in love with Wind In The Wires prior to TMP (I had to backtrack to capture the genius of his debut, Lycanthropy), I was immensely happy to hear 'Wind In The Wires', 'The Gypsy King' and my personal favorite, 'This Weather' - which sounded unmistakably flawless. Check out Patrick's full setlist plus some more photos from the evening, below.





Check out my interview with Patrick Wolf, dating back to late May, here.

Setlist: Wind In The Wires. Teignmouth. Overture. Jacob's Ladder. Accident & Emergency. Paris. Peter Pan. Bluebells. The Gypsy King. The Libertine. The Stars. Magpie (w/ Bishi). London. This Weather. Tristan. The Magic Position... A Boy Like Me [aborted]. Lycanthropy.

Opening the show was Patrick's good friend and future collaborator, Bishi. Bishi's sound reminds me of a musical experiment involving Bollywood, '70s disco and modern-day dance pop (a la Kylie Minogue). In other words, absolutely brilliant! Surely one of the best openers I've seen in quite some time. Judging from the roars and cheers after her set, it's fair to say that the bulk of the crowd ate it up as well. Learn more about Bishi and sample four of her tunes here at her MySpace page.