Re: Patti – Meltdown – 23 June 2005

[Andrew F Wilson <andrewfwilson>]

Meltdown: Stand Bravely, Brothers, Royal Festival Hall, London 
By Simon Price 

Independent on Sunday, 3 July 2005

"The amateur rules." Thus spracht the man to whom Patti Smith refers
to as "Bertolt Brekk", and it's a spirit which governs this Meltdown
tribute to the staunch communist whose works have been immeasurably
influential on the development of popular song.

This was a man, after all, who devoted his life to challenging the
bourgeois conventions of the theatre, parodying the pomposity of
opera, and dismantling the audience/actor divide .

Accordingly, there's a charmingly ad-hoc feel to the evening, which
encompasses songs which have become standards ("Mack the Knife",
"Alabama Song") and his lesser-known works.

A photo of the great man gazes down on proceedings as an impressive
line-up of admirers (the Finn Brothers have flown all the way from New
Zealand for all of 60 seconds' stage-time) are wheeled on and off in
front of the London Sinfonietta, conveyor-belt style.

Sparks do Brecht in a Sparks style, which is neatly symmetrical
because, on their finest album (Indiscreet), Sparks did Sparks in a
Brecht style.

Antony (of The Johnsons) sounds impossibly cool, quipping "take that
cigarette out of your mouth, you rat" in a duet with the Bjvrkish
Martha Wainwright. Antony's hero, Marc Almond (still recovering from a
crash), is offered a chair. He declines. He's fine. And that is a fine
sight.

David Thomas of Pere Ubu sings "Alabama Song" with an erratic,
eccentric delivery which has several members of the Sinfonietta
cracking up. Only at the end, when he begins slurring and staggering
like a drunk on his way to the next whiskey bar, does it become clear:
he's been acting the song! The Tiger Lillies, who deliver lines like
"some anarchist who had lunch with the best wine on the list" in a
hilarious Hinge & Brackett falsetto, are quite a find.

Amanda Palmer of the mighty Dresden Dolls - whose Kurzweil keyboard
has been amended to read "KURTWEILL" - sings the harrowing
prostitute's tale "Nanna's Song".

Patti Smith indulges in a little acting, using a mop as a prop during
"Pirate Jenny", hoisting her skirt, and showing a bit of shoulder.
After messing up, skipping several verses then having to recap the
missing part with a precis, she invokes Brecht's own dictum herself:
"the amateur rules."

http://enjoyment.independent.co.uk/music/reviews/article296505.ece