My Brightest Diamond @ Blender Theater: Kneel to the Diamond

Shara Worden held a party tonight in honor of her second album, A Thousand Shark's Teeth. There were party hats, alcohol, dancing, puppets, fake horses, face painting, toys and beat boxing. You know a party ain't a party 'till it's ran all through, and Shara and her band of misfits ran though all the good stuff in her catalog. If you thought her shows were some namby-pamby, girly-girl, foo-foo performance art, think again, cousins. She throws down and creates soundscapes full of imagination and wonderment.

The setlist (might have missed a few):

• Inside a Boy
• Black & Costaud
• Ice & the Storm
• If I Were Queen
• Apples
• From the Top of the World
• Bass Player
• The Diamond
• When Doves Cry (Prince cover)
• Dragonfly
• To Pluto's Moon
• Freak Out
• Golden Star
• Encore: Adieu Mon Coeur (Edith Pilaf cover)

You need to respect the music that Shara creates with her collaborators. There's a lot of eclectic ideas mixed together. It bypasses just artsy singer-songwriter material with a bunch of strings. She elevates the material with her angelic voice and she's not afraid to add strong drumming and guitar parts with the soft and delicate orchestral elements. A Thousand Shark's Teeth could be the soundtrack to your dreams.

If you listen to her new album, you would think that she's all business about her pain. Her live shows are far from that. She's quite the jokester and keeps things lively and upbeat. She runs through a myriad of voices for her banter, from the ringmaster voice to a stoner's low drawl. As you can tell by the pictures, she looks like she's having some fun on stage. Why not? Music should be a joy to see live and she relishes every moment. I just like how with about 12 musicians on stage, the show felt very intimate.

This is basically the first proper time I've seen her. I caught her opening set for The Decemberists last year for afar, but wasn't tuned in properly. Then, I saw her when she was with the Sufjan Stevens crew in London in 2005. In case you were wondering, Suf was there, just chilling in the back of the floor. In any event, a pure pleasure to see live, her bright personality is on stage, so there's no artifice there.

Case in point, check out Shara getting her freak out on with my buddy, Olivier, one of her many collaborators.

This is my first time at the Blender Theater. The majority of the time, their bookings are rather lame with no name artists or dinky "alternative rock" bands. Once in a while, the M.B.D.s of the music scene can take advantage of its size. It's a shame because I was surprised how nice it is. The stage lighting is great, sounds great, perfect angels to see everything and seating in the back if you just want to watch comfortably.

Comments

[sextonseven]

This is the complete My Brightest Diamond setlist for the show at Blender:

Inside a Boy
Black and Costaud
Ice and Storm
If I Were Queen
Apples
From the Top of the World
Bass Player
When Doves Cry (Prince)
The Gentlest Gentleman
Goodbye Forever
Disappear / Wanna Be Startin' Somethin' (Michael Jackson) (medley)
Dragonfly
To Pluto's Moon
Freak Out
Golden Star

Encore:
Youkali (Kurt Weill)

90 minutes

wow you finally got some good shots with that fancy camera. took long enough!

[L]

The show was amazing in every possible way! The party's theme was "Pierrot Punk." I went all-out in black and white regalia, resulting in strange looks on the subway ride home, but it didn't matter because I was still reveling over the concert.
This was the first MBD show I've attended. Shara, Osso and the others exceeded any expectations I might have had, blowing them into smithereens. And seeing Suf there was great too, since I am a big admirer of his work & etc. :)
As for the setlist, I think the encore was "Adieu Mon Coeur" (Edith *Piaf cover), definitely not Youkali (as sextonseven has typed.)