The Dresden Dolls
9:30 Club
∙
Washington
Tuesday, October 31 at 7:45 pm EDT
EDM
Serves Food
Nightclub
Concert Venue
Tuesday, October 31 at 7:45 pm EDT
EDM
Serves Food
Nightclub
Concert Venue
Details
Description
“The world has not seen the last of The Dresden Dolls,” promised Amanda Palmer upon the conclusion of last year’s sold out run of shows in Brooklyn, Kingston and Boston – The Dresden Dolls’ first official live performances in close to a decade. True to her word, she and drummer/multi-instrumentalist Brian Viglione are teaming once again for a pair of celebrations near and dear to their mischievous and theatrical hearts. Halloween has a long-held special relevance for the duo; the band met at a Halloween party at Palmer’s home in 2000. In addition, the November dates will commemorate the Paradise Rock Club’s 40th anniversary as one of Boston’s most important live venues. Famed for hosting legendary artists long before the rest of the world takes notice, the Paradise Rock Club was an early stomping ground for the Dolls. The band threw their first record release party (for their eponymous album “The Dresden Dolls”).
In 2005, after signing with a major label and touring the world several times over, the band returned home to film their first live DVD at the club, calling on a huge cast of local street-performing and circus-world compatriots – a.k.a. The Dresden Dolls Brigade – to join in an unforgettable party. Unforgettable is was: an unexpected late-spring power outage shut the club’s electricity and air-conditioning down for the entire evening, during which the collective took to the streets of Boston, celebrating and causing a ruckus, before returning to the venue for a very late and now legendary marathon performance, captured for posterity on the acclaimed DVD, The Dresden Dolls: In Paradise.
Amanda Palmer and Brian Viglione first united as The Dresden Dolls in 2000 and immediately made an impact with their ingenious punk cabaret and darkly original song craft and visceral no-holds-barred live shows. Blending performance art with an array of sonic and lyrical influences, the duo reaped global attention for creating a uniquely cathartic, often confrontational sound and vision all their own.
Two acclaimed studio albums – 2003’s self-titled debut and 2006’s YES, VIRGINIA… – earned critical praise, hailing The Dresden Dolls’ distinctive work as both deeply unsettling yet remarkably accessible. The duo went on an indefinite creative hiatus in 2008 but reconvened two years later for a series of remarkable tours spanning North America, Oceania, and Mexico; Palmer and Viglione reconvened once again in 2016 for the biggest live shows of their influential career, culminating with The Dresden Dolls Live At Coney Island, a spectacular six-camera webcast livestreamed around the world from the new Ford Amphitheater at Coney Island Boardwalk.
Brian Viglione, on the upcoming shows: “Halloween and the act of transforming yourself outwardly to strut your inner, totem-animal are in the very life blood of The Dresden Dolls. From the very first time we played the Paradise in autumn 2003 for our debut album release, we called on our fans and friends to come dressed to the nines for the occasion, and soon it spread worldwide via our most spunky followers in The Brigade. It’s a perfect time to celebrate the Ruby Red 40th Anniversary of this classic Boston rock venue, and the 14th Band-iversary of the cities stripiest duo.”
Amanda Palmer: “The Dresden Dolls never really die, we just hibernate eternally, crawling out of our coffin when we are hungry for blood. But seriously…these shows will be an epic and heartfelt communion with our roots and our oldest and dearest fans. We were happy to play massive shows in 5,000-seat venues this past summer, but there’s nothing like playing in a sweaty little club to a bunch of freaks. Especially in these dark political times, we’re in need of some good old-fashioned political satire and fresh reasons to howl at the sky. Expect the Unexpected, and come ready to weep and dressed to kill.”