Amanda Palmer
23rd October 2020
St Peter’s On Willis, Wellington, New Zealand.
Review and photography by Tim Gruar.
US musician Amanda Palmer is supposed to be putting her feet up in upstate New York, having completed a hundred date world tour. However, thanks to Covid-19 she’s been holed up in the Hawkes Bay. Until now. Twice at least she’s tried to kickstart her national tour only to be thwarted by Lockdowns. Tonight, she finally made it back to Wellington to perform the show she originally had to cancel the day after the first Lockdown announcements.
Her usual shows clocked up to four and a half hours – consisting of music and a series of monologues dealing with death, grief, multiple abortions, a miscarriage – an emotionally exhausting show to perform. But, she says in recent media, that show has served its purpose. “My life has gone through a catastrophic wonder, and everything is different.”
So, it’s a restart. Amanda Palmer World Tour two point fucking ohhh! – as it were. Returning to the stage with three unique shows, featuring all-new content crafted especially for the new normal. Wellington hosting two evening shows and a family-friendly matinee with special guests. This particular show is a very local affair, rooted in the experience of watching the world fall around her during lockdown and a celebration of the things that did not fall apart.
Oh, yeah, was it ever? This month marks the twentieth anniversary of The Dresden Dolls. So, Amanda should have been gigging with Brian Viglione. Sadly, Covid put a damper on that. So here’s Amanda, in Hawkes Bay, trying to deal with a world spinning out of control with a President that’s beyond crazy and a city (NYC) so infectious a sneeze could wipe out your entire block. “I need this show more than you do,” she tells her audience. It’s both a re-introduction to performing and a therapy session. Clearly as a performer reliant on an audience for finance and love she needs us. And, it seems, we need her too.
Amanda opens the Wellington show, dramatically, perched on the balcony, playing Radiohead’s ‘Creep’ on the ukulele. That’s quickly followed up with her delusional reconciliation ‘In My Mind’ and the Ocker-mocker ‘Map Of Tasmania’, complete with the usual audience participation singing ‘Fuck It!’ during the chorus.
Making it to the baby grand, she wizzes through ‘Astronaut’ and a very poignant version of the Dresden Doll’s ‘Mrs O’. There are a few comments about today’s final Presidential debate: ‘’America’s fucked.’’ She notes that this song was a reflection on faith vs. insanity. Nothing has changed. Fake new vs. reality show craziness. But, New Zealanders, she says ‘’thank God, are, after the last election, on the right side of weird’. More Trumpisms come in the introduction of ‘Drowning in Sound’’ with umpteen references to ‘fake news’.
And then we arrive at the topic of abortion. Amanda Palmer has had three abortions. So, she doesn’t shy away from this. In her ‘usual’ show she covers these at great level (a comedy, she claims. Despite our apprehensions). She gives us a dialogue about the abortion laws in the USA and where they are currently going. Noting that the song she’s about to run into ‘Voicemail for Jill’ is ‘’probably not appropriate for a church’’ she does it with heart-melting conviction. It’s really a showstopper.
Then there’s the hilarious ‘Vegemite’, about a boyfriend who eats a product Americans just don’t understand. That gets a huge roar from the audience. References to a relationship deal breaker ‘’when you spread cancer on your toast’’ has a nice gross out element to it.
Before the intermission, there is a very tender song about all the anxieties of being a new mother, written after her son, Ash, was born. ‘Mother’s Confession’ covers all the bases that we, as parents, go through. Like worrying about looking away at an inappropriate moment and our kid falling onto the floor or forgetting to pay for something in our groceries when we were distracted by a crying baby. Or locking a child in a car or forgetting to pick them up from day-care. C’mon we all do it. We do. But only once and we learn. Don’t beat yourself up with guilt! Really. The audience get it and sing along with the chorus “at least the baby didn’t die.” I think this was cathartic for every parent in the room tonight.
After intermission Amanda launches into ‘Runs In The Family’ and a long sprawling speech about meeting New Plymouth based composer/writer Peter Jefferies. She takes a short diversion to perform ‘New Zealand’, a song she wrote only a block away, backstage at Bodega back in 2009 as a reaction to ‘Map Of Tasmania’. New Zealanders wanted their own song. So we go it! Then, with more conviction, she returns to perform an exceptionally poignant and beautiful version of Jefferies’ ’On An Unknown Beach’ (from his album ‘The Last Great Challenge In An Dull World”). This was one of those moments when the spine tingles and the hairs stand on end. It was truly a highlight.
Another highlight came with another new song – ‘The man that ate too much’, inspired by her time under the shadow of Te Mata Peak. Like a true parent Amanda tells the audience the legend, in her own words, about how a giant, in love with a girl, tries to win her father’s approval by undertaking a number of tasks including having to eat through the mountain. When the giant chokes on a stone and he dies, he becomes part of the mountain. Everyday Amanda points at the hump of land near the road and asks her son: ‘’Ash, can you see the giant’’. That goes into this song. She has only played this song in front of an audience twice, during which she, and many in the audience, openly wept. I think we may have again.
A return to the old days with the Doll’s ‘Coin Operated Boy’ changes ‘’the scene’’ and lifts the mood. Then, to finish Amanda gives us her new magnum opus: ‘The Ride’, a song about life, love and everything in between. It’s heart-breaking and triumphant at the same time. It covers every base and really tugs the heart strings.
Amanda Palmer, despite her protestations that she’s under-rehearsed, is truly on form. She needs this and we need her! She’s a triumph and a success. Every show after this she’ll be even better. Amanda Fucking Palmer was great tonight. But tomorrow, she’ll be even better and better after that. She just gets better, with every show!
Of course, she had to finish with her ‘Ukelele Anthem’, delivered with great aplomb. Amanda Palmer is an artist who lives by crowd funding and fan support and she earned every cent tonight. We are so happy to have back an artist who is relevant and speaks to us at a level we understand and can engage. Amanda Palmer may be stuck here for a while. Secretly, I hope so. Because, despite what her countrymen may say, in this Covid-19 world Aotearoa is the greatest place to be at the moment. I think she gets that. And she gets us!
Were you there at St. Peter’s On Willis in Wellington for this special gig? Or have you seen Amanda Palmer perform live some other time? Tell us about it in the comments below!
Note: New Zealand Fringe Festival provided passes to Ambient Light to review and photograph this concert. As always, this has not influenced the review in any way and the opinions expressed are those of Ambient Light’s only. This post contains affiliate links. If you purchase a product using an affiliate link, Ambient Light will automatically receive a small commission.
If you enjoyed this content, please consider donating towards the running of Ambient Light, covering expenses and allowing us to expand the coverage you love by visiting our PressPatron page.