Patti – Meltdown – 23 June 2005

[Andrew F Wilson <andrewfwilson>]

Tonight was "Stand Bravely Brothers: a homage to Bertolt Brecht" at
the Royal Festival Hall, another ensemble evening collecting together
a disparate but intriguing group of artists.  Beyond the Brecht theme,
another unifying element was the music of Kurt Weill and occasional
pieces by Hans Eisler.  For Brecht it was important that "everyone
must understand" so, in this case, all the songs were sung in English.

The London Sinfonietta, conductor James Holmes, was on stage
throughout the evening, starting the programme with the Overture to
The Threepenny Opera, accompanying many of the singers, and playing
some incidental music by Weill.

The first singer was Carla Bozulich (The Geraldine Fibbers), with
Ballad of the Lily of Hell.  Next up was the imposing figure of David
Thomas (ex Pere Ubu), who strolled onto stage with a hat and cane,
like Orson Welles at his most hammy.  He sang Alabama Song, but there
was a fault with his microphone (he brought his own retro mic, of
course), making him near inaudible for most of the song.  When he was
audible, his swapping voices, and the intended distortion, were
compelling  at least for me, though perhaps not all of the audience,
who gave luke-warm applause.

The Dresden Dolls were next.  New to me, but I was a fan by the end of
the evening.  They performed Song of the Soldier's Wife  one of my
favourites Brecht/Weill songs  you can see a mile off that it is NOT
going to end happily, but the inevitable conclusion is none the less
moving for that.

A Meltdown 2005 regular walked onto the stage.  "I'm Tilda, and I'm
proud to serve in Patti's Meltdown army!"  Tilda Swinton happily
captured the spirit of the evening, and of Brecht (and the field
marshal) in one phrase.  She read a poem by Brecht about the earthy
theatre of the street corner called "On Everyday Theatre".

Then we had Sparks, who appeared much as I remembered them from 30
years ago, doing Mandelay Song very competently.  It could easily have
been in their repertoire in the seventies.

I expected actress Fiona Shaw to read another poem, but instead she
sang Eisler's Song of the German Mother, quietly, but competently and,
as you'd expect, with intense drama.  (If you don't recognise the name
 highbrow reference is her acclaimed performance of Richard II 
lowbrow reference is her characterisation of Aunt Petunia in the Harry
Potter Films).

Marc Almond was greeted with the most enthusiastic audience reaction
so far.  His two items  Bilbao Song and What Keeps Mankind Alive 
were knocked off with aplomb, and amusingly contemporary lyrics. 
"Bill's dance-hall" was "very chavvy".  The audience cheered him off
the stage a hero.

The Finn Brothers (ex Crowded House) also had a well-judged new
translation of the Cannon Song  "The British Army | will make salami
| from Basra to Amarah".

Fifteen minutes interval, then we restarted with David Thomas back to
sing Alabama Song again, but now with a working microphone.  This time
the audience response was much more appropriate to this great
performer.

After two pieces on accordion, Patti at last came onto the stage with
Lenny Kaye.  Wearing an elegant knee-length black dress

She explained that her first poetry reading was held on 10 February
1971, Brecht's birthday.  Lenny had played guitar, and she had sung
Mack the Knife  so she planned to do it again tonight.  This was a
quite magical moment in itself, but sublime as a reconstruction of
that evening thirty-odd years ago.  She was accompanied only by piano
and guitar.

Having pulled that one off, Patti then attempted to sing Pirate Jenny,
which she dedicated to Lotte Lenya.  She armed herself with a mop, as
per the scene in The Threepenny Opera.  After a false start she
abandoned the prop and launched into the song again, with just piano
accompaniment and percussion.  About half way through she lost her
place, skipped some verses, gave a deadpan summary of the story to
cover the missing section, then jumped back in to finish the song. 
The pianist followed her eratic course admirably, although his page
turner appeared rather lost.  She left the stage to great applause, as
we knew we'd seen another unique performance.

The Tiger Lillies brought some music hall humour to their performance
of The Ballad of Sexual Dependency, which milked the "screwing!"
refrain for more than most performers could have got away with.  They
almost received as much applause as Marc Almond had done.

When the Dresden Dolls returned to sing Nanna's Song, we had a brief
Harold Pinter moment.  An audience member shouted out "Amanda!". 
Short pause.   "Yes?" she replied slowly.  Long pause.  "Er, nothing."

The Tiger Lillies came back for two more  the hypnotic Song of the
Drowning Girl, and Remembering Marie A.

Next was Anthony (of Anthony and the Johnstons), who fidgeted
awkwardly, but sang Surabaya Johnny quite competently.  He was then
joined by Martha Wainwright for a duet of The Ballad of Immoral
Earnings.  Wainwright appeared to be having a whale of a time, and
managed to act her socks off, as well as putting some life into the
song.  Anthony towered above her, looking like Boris Karloff to her
Elsa Lanchester, but they were an engaging double-act.  Martha
Wainwright then sang The Sailor's Tango alone and the Finn Brothers
returned for Eisler's Tank Battles.

The end was now in sight, and Patti floated onto stage wearing what
appeared to be a long rust-brown night-dress.  "I've not been sacked,"
she said, smiling, "so I've one more chance to trample over a great
song."  She then sang a dreamy lullaby version of Lost in the Stars,
just her voice and the piano, without reading the words, without any
screw-ups, and it was as magical as the stars she sang about.

Little stars, big stars, blowing through the night,
And we're lost out here in the stars.
Little stars, big stars, blowing through the night,
And we're lost out here in the stars.

All that remained was for everyone to file onto the stage for the
ensemble finale, which was Eisler's "Solidarity Song".  This was
pretty together, given that it's not a song that many people
habitually sing in the shower.  Patti waved good-bye happily and added
"Thanks to Michael Stipe, who gave me this dress."

Kind regards


Andrew