Project Description

Amanda Palmer

“There Will Be No Intermission”

Hamer Hall

22/01/2020

(Live Review)

Reviewer: Sofie Marsden

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Amanda Palmer

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“Dense and intense, the new record from cult hero Amanda Palmer is loaded with the drama of real life.” – NME, 4 Stars

 “Painfully raw, wickedly naughty, deeply moving and disconcertingly honest.” – Adelaide Advertiser, 5 Stars

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First off, there are two very important things to understand about Amanda Palmer’s show, There Will Be No Intermission. Number one, the name of the show is a lie, there most definitely is an intermission. Number two, you’ll be glad there’s an intermission because the show is four hours long. If you head along to the tour expecting to see a bit of nice singing and piano tinkering, you may not necessarily be disappointed, but you’ll definitely be in for a surprise.

Palmer’s show is dark. Very dark. She tackles issues that we can’t stop talking about, climate change, useless politicians, feelings of confusion and uncertainty. But she also talks about those things that most of us do not speak of, at least not socially. Miscarriage, cancer, death, radical sympathy, and abortion. By no means are any of these subjects light hearted, and Palmer certainly does not make light of them, but she is a storyteller who brings you into her world, into her headspace, to see the world from her point of view which is, at times, bizarre.

There Will Be No Intermission is a continuous story going through Amanda Palmer’s life from childhood to the present day. She tells stories of growing up, relationships, early sexual experiences and coping with not knowing what she should be doing with herself. In between stories are songs that tie in to the themes, sometimes in unexpected ways. The surprisingly upbeat tune Oasis accompanies the singer’s first story about abortion and this is where we get an early appreciation for what the rest of the show will involve. We’re told that when the song was released, Palmer copped criticism from all sides for daring to talk openly about such a personal subject, but also for apparently treating abortion like a trivial experience. This is certainly not the case, as we quickly learn that Amanda Palmer, like many artists, expresses herself best through her art, and that manifests in different ways. A subsequent story about a different abortion has the singer telling the audience about her struggle with deciding what to do. Should she have a baby, should she not? And so she introduces her next tune, telling us to listen to the song while keeping in mind four different mindsets; a woman who has a great career and wants to keep living that way, a mother with a baby who loves being a parent but also misses her old life, the perspective of the foetus, and the perspective of a vagina. I won’t ruin the show by telling you what song she plays, but it’s both hilarious and a stark reminder that we all process difficult situations in different ways, and different perspectives are important.

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Palmer and her family have been in Australia since before Christmas, and so have been up close and personal with the recent bushfires ravaging our country. This, along with a very educational visit to Tasmania, appears to have touched the singer in a very profound way. Not only did she write a new song last week about what she’d learned about the devastating history of Aboriginal people in Tasmania post-colonialism, but she also decided to perform a song to assist in raising money for bushfire fighting efforts. This took the form of a cover of the Midnight Oil classic Beds are Burning, with some of the most robust audience participation you’ve ever seen. The video of this performance will be available on Amanda Palmer’s Patreon page and if viewing it is even half as moving as being a part of it was, it’s going to be a great watch.

While There Will Be No Intermission is dark, it’s not all doom and gloom. Just as you think you’ve been dug into a hole so dark and so deep you’ll never get out, Palmer throws you a rope to climb out, back into the sunshine for a laugh. Likewise, when you’re swinging as high as you can possibly go, wind through your hair, sun on your face, she cuts the strings and you come tumbling back down to earth. It’s a rollercoaster of a show, and by the end, there’s a feeling of exhaustion, but the good kind like after you’ve gone for a run. Palmer doesn’t burden us with her stories, but rather gives us all something to think about. Even if we personally cannot relate to the show’s themes as an individual, we undoubtedly know somebody who can.

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Amanda Palmer
“There Will Be No Intermission”
TOUR DATES

Tickets

31 Jan / Brisbane Powerhouse

1 Feb / Brisbane Powerhouse

7 Feb / Canberra Theatre

8 Feb / Blue Mountains Theatre 

14 Feb / Adelaide Fringe

20 Feb / Enmore Theatre

22 Feb / Perth Festival

29 Feb / Darwin Entertainment Centre

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Follow AMANDA PALMER
Website   Facebook   Twitter   Instagram

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AMNPLIFY – DB