US Cityslicker Elletra: Amanda Palmer & the Grand Theft Orchestra, Pictures or it Didn't Happen

Recently Amanda Palmer made music history by crowd-funding her latest album (Theatre is Evil) on kickstarter. She exceeded her $100,000 goal by more than $1,000,000! She made an incredible album, with amazing kickstarter backer edition goodies and debuted at No. 10 on the Billboard 200 Chart. I couldn’t help but mark my calendar for the Houston show as soon as I found out the venue.

The venue was Fitzgerald’s, which is a Houston staple among the show scene. Built in 1918 as a Polish social hall for dancing, music and games, Fitzgerald’s has an intimate and unique ambiance which was perfect for Amanda Palmer and the Grand Theft Orchestra.

The intro acts definitely hyped the crowd up for the headliner show. There was an incredible solo performance by the band’s bassist Jherek Bischoff, a stellar synth show by the band’s guitarist Chad Raines and his band The Simple Pleasure, and a crazy-amazing cover group, Ronald Reagan Boston’s Premier 80’s Pop Saxophone Duo.

The show was epic, to say the least. The album is amazing, and the live performance left me speechless. If you haven’t had a chance to check out Theatre is Evil already, I highly recommend it. Amanda has a pay what you want policy on her music, and that includes paying nothing; please follow the link if you wish to partake.

(For those of you reading this, and may not know, Amanda is married to the award-winning author and LomoAmigo, Neil Gaiman.)

The show made for some amazing photos. I brought my LC-A+ RL loaded with Lomography X Tungsten 64 and my Fuji Natura Classica loaded with Lomography Color Negative 800. I was very happy with the results and would recommend both films and cameras for concerts (just make sure you have a powerful flash).

One of the aspects that made this tour extra special was that musicians from each stop were able to volunteer their talents. The four-string quartet Two Star Symphony were Houston volunteer musicians, and they were fantastic. Unfortunately, from where I was standing, I never got a good photo of them, but I’m very glad I got to listen to them.

Another element that made this show special was that during the show, Amanda crowd-surfed. Not that crowd-surfing is terribly unique, but she did so in this amazing costume. It must have had a 20-foot long train, and it must have flowed over everyone standing on the room floor during that particular act.

All in all, it was a great show and we even got an encore solo performance from Amanda with her famous ukulele. If you haven’t heard her music, once again, I highly recommend it. And for those of you in Europe, she’s just about to kick off her tour there, and you can check out the tour dates here.

written by elletra on 2012-10-26 #music #lifestyle #concert #show #live #texas #houston #lomography #elletra #cityslicker #amanda-palmer #grand-theft-orchestra #theatre-is-evil