Tortillaz before heading to the Frits Philips Music Center. According to our tickets there were no designated seats, so we figured we'd arrive early to get the best seats (first row).
Imagine our surprise when we learned that, even though we were 45 minutes early, we had to go upstairs for seats on the balconies. Dang!
The show started with some performance art: a lady moving to music. Even though it started very promising (in my opinion) I ended up not liking it. Too much repetition and each segment a tad too long.
Anyhoo, after that it was time for Antony and the Johnsons. Arnold and I were both buzzing with anticipation. (It's thanks to my brother that I started to check out Antony's music; he told me Antony sometimes writes from a female point of view and likes to play with genders.)
During the opening song Antony sat in the dark and sang, while his band was in the proverbial spotlight.
I think he was a bit nervous at first (gosh, is he ever shy!) but the audience was warm and welcoming and he seemed to relax more with each minute.
Arnold and I liked that Antony played songs from all his albums, making it a nice mix of old and new. He also displayed his sense of humor, like when all of a sudden he interrupted a song to ask the audience who he was impersonating :D
A lady in our section guessed it right: Rufus Wainwright. It was cute.
Towards the end of the evening he picked up the pace and sort of started swinging it out. (Antony was getting his groove on behind the piano.)
The musicians in his band - the Johnsons - are amazing. I was in awe watching them: two of them were obviously multi-instrumentalists, playing guitars, clarinet, and saxophone besides violins.
My brother and I agreed that the violins and cello added to the mood in the music.
At the end of the set the band got up to bow to the audience and it was then that I saw how tall Antony is. A stark contrast to his voice. And I have to admit there's only so much melodrama I can take, but I can handle it in dosages. Besides, I think Antony (whether he identifies as a woman or a gay man) he certainly has cojones for opening up and writing about his turmoils, and be vulnerable. He seems like a gentle giant to me.
All in all a great concert!
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