Scissor Sisters – Commodore Ballroom – 20June2012
The Scissor Sisters won me over the first time I saw them, way back in 2004 at Richards On Richards, and they’ve never let me down since. The quartet always give one of the best live performances, their reputation now precedes them so the audience is in such anticipation that the energy is boiling over well before they step onstage. Boiling was the word of the night as they non-stop dancing by the sold out crowd at the Commodore Ballroom over the 95 minute set worked everyone into a sweat. The seasoned performers know just how to work their wildly eclectic audience over the course of the evening, building them up with hi-energy dance hits like; Any Which Way, Let’s Have A Kiki, Take Your Mama and I Don’t Feel Like Dancing. Then, possibly to give themselves a break, they moderate the energy with a lower tempo dose of Mary, Year Of Living Dangerously or Inevitable.
While Babydaddy and DelMarquis are terrific musicians, Jake Shears and Ana Matronic have to be two of the hardest working performers, non-stop dancing and energy flows from their every pore, it’s no wonder they need to lower the tempo, just to be able to breathe. Their brilliantly over the top neon hipster outfits were definitely not made of natural fabrics as Jake was soaked through with sweat before stripping off his shirt to much excitement from most of the crowd. A couple of times during the show, ringleaders Jake and Ana stop to chat about the tour, Vancouver being Jake’s word for Vagina, acknowledging the audience and their crew and even singing a little Happy Birthday to one of their back up singers. Playing a good mix of older and songs of their new album Magic Hour made sure that everyone knew more than just a few songs, whether it was your first Scissor Sisters show or you were a veteran.
While there was quite a number of first time Scissor Sisters concert attendees I’m sure that very few of the would consider this their last time.