Ah, Sia. What more can i say about my favorite musical pixie? Last night, she came through town on her latest tour, this time to promote her upcoming We Are Born. As always, she charmed the crowd with her whimsical, playful on-stage banter before repeatedly knocking us on our collective ass with her powerhouse vocals. Which, of course, is what makes the experience the good time it always has been.Now, i've been catching Ms. Furler for some years now, the first of which was with her in the large Zero 7 touring band of the early Aughts. Even then, she was bouncing off the walls liked a coked up chipmunk (but in the best way possible, of course). While she's not with Zero 7 anymore (or at least right now), she's seemingly standing completely on her own stage for the first time in her career.
To begin with, the crowds have grown considerably since her last couple of jaunts through town. For her last two shows, i doubt there were 500 people there. Last night was damn near capacity. Not that it makes any difference to me, but the demographics of the audience have swayed, too. Suffice to say, my heterosexuality was in the minority last night, so a big shout out to my peeps of the Rainbow Nation. The main difference in that lay in the fact that i haven't heard that much screeching since i was in grade school.
Perhaps more tellingly, there were no Zero 7 songs this time around. In the past, there's always been at least "Distractions," if not others, mixed in with Sia's own material. While there were a couple of covers last night (the Kink's "I Go to Sleep" and Madonna's "Oh Father"), these are both tracks she's made her own by virtue of covering them on her own CDs.
This did nothing to diminish the evening, however. The crowd seemed to get into the newer material, while damn near exploding for her better known stuff. During the pause at the end of "Breathe Me," the crowd got so loud that Sia said afterwards that we had beaten out the heretofore champion crowd at Coachella in terms of sheer noisiness.
And then there were the little flourishes that take the show to the next level. The ample chatter between tracks delved from accepting and donning gifts from the crowd to admonishing herself for cursing when she knew there were kids in the audience. She also got into some quick "bus song" jams, including "I'm Gonna Pee on You" and "I Need Strong Shoes for my Feet." Oh, and she started the show wearing a lit "penis hat" (scroll down to see for yourself) and closed wearing giant wings that blew bubbles into the crowd.
Now if that's not a good time, well, you're just an ass.
And for those of you that are awaiting her upcoming CD as much as i am, head on over to Sia's homepage to watch videos for six new tracks. Like, now, Daddy-O.
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