All photos: Denis Largeron
If you were at Nellies this past Monday or Tuesday and it seemed empty, well it was because almost every gay was having a kiki with the Scissor Sisters. The now foursome returned to the 9:30 Club after their mistake of playing D.A.R. Constitution Hall a few yeas back (they admitted the gaffe: D.A.R. “has seats”). But it might not have been that D.A.R. has seats, instead it is too large of a venue for them to fill in America, especially coming off their lamest album Night Work. But two shows at 9:30? Two sell outs.
Baltimore’s Rye Rye opened the show after the opening DJ, Sammy Jo, Deadmau-5’ed his way through playing tunes, which, c’mon you aren’t doing anything but cuing up songs from CDs. Get your hands off the knobs, Paris Hilton is a more convincing DJ. Rye Rye brought two back-up dancers to flank her as she blazed through a set from her long delayed and just released Go! Pop! Bang! including singles “Sunshine” and “Boom Boom Boom”.
The crowd was loud when the Scissor Sisters took the stage, starting with a rowdy rendition of “Any Which Way” transitioning smoothly into Magic Hour highlight “Keep Your Shoes On.” This is a band that has been touring for weeks playing the same set-list, so there was a whiff of meticulous rehearsal to the staging and set, but it could just be professionalism. Flanked by two matching back-up singers, Jake Sears and Ana Matronic raced through “Baby Come Home” before addressing the crowd and playing b-side “The Skins.”
True to the tour’s name the Sisters played “Let’s Have A Kiki.” Every foot in the entire club was moving while the words of the track played out on the screen behind the band. It is inevitable that the band will stop playing tracks from their older records with each new release but the omissions were glaring: no “Paul McCartney,” no “Filthy Gorgeous,” no “Fire with Fire.” What we did get were the first seven from Magic Hour, four from Night Work, two from Ta-Dah and four from their debut plus a b-side. Gripes about the set-list aside, the band proves you can still have fun even with a lame song. Case in point “Skin This Cat,” probably thrown into the set to give Matronic something to do, was elevated in the live setting with a choreographed dance between Matronic and the backup singers.
A low in the show was “Mary,” which was too slow for its own good, and while it did provide a reprieve from the constant movement, the song felt like a missed opportunity and fell flat. As the set concluded with the threesome of “Invisible Light,” “Shady Love” and “I Don’t Feel Like Dancin’” 9:30 was sweaty and hot. Even with out the obligatory encore the band proved they might be shaky on their albums but they are a treat live.
- Rye Rye:
