Live4MusiC

by Zhang Weifang

 

Bless the Scissor Sisters' bellies, for the Sisters - excluding Babydaddy - were struck with a bout of food poisoning from their previous stop in Bali. Thankfully, that didn't stop the quintet of Jake Shears, Ana Matronic, Del Marquis, Randy Real, Babydaddy and two female back-up vocalists from churning out an astronomical show at Fort Gate at Fort Canning Park on Monday night.

Despite the 90-minute hold-up that left many a punter irascible, any bad mood was swiftly disposed of when the band took to the stage. Flanked by the rest of their team, Shears and Matronic pounced into the arena - in all their shredded denim and yellow polka-dot glory - with opener track Night Work. Unfortunately, their introductory ditty didn't quite hit the ground running, with the sound system drowning out Shears and Matronic. 

Later, Matronic called out to the sweaty 2,500-strong assembly. "We are all feeling a touch of a Bali belly ... The louder you scream, the better we'll feel," she rallied, before she and Shears launched into T*** On The Radio, replete with high falsetto sing-a-longs, rapturous cheers and wolf whistles from an adoring crowd.

Gloriously shameless, Shears peeled off his jacket to reveal not very much else and joined Matronic in Running Out, a fast-paced piece of glam pop introspection. Later, the front woman whipped out her tambourine and slipped into Pink Floyd gear with Shears in the band's rendition of the gorgeous Comfortably Numb. 

The evening was a winner - but not just because the Sisters belted out popular numbers like I Don't Feel Like Dancing, Take Your Mama Out and Filthy/Gorgeous (even though there were one too many languid numbers from the third album on the set-list). 

Success came from the way Shears and Matronic delivered a mellifluous harmony that shows just how hard they've worked over a decade; their dedication and perseverance despite having their own country (that would be the United States) under-appreciate them terribly. It's their adoration for the music that places them on a pedestal far from the reaches of the pretenders. ZHANG WEIFANG  

At their best, sparkle disco champs Scissor Sisters bring to mind the result of a one-night stand between Erasure and the Killers. Their self-titled '04 debut was a synth-pop bacchanal; on its too-somber follow-up, "Ta-Dah," gloomy meditations on fame and death gate-crashed the Sisters' perpetual Studio 54.

After destroying Pink Floyd, Scissor Sisters want to do a honky tonk Nine Inch Nails cover.

Scissor Sisters' frontman Jake Shears has revealed to Spinner he is a huge fan of Trent Reznor - and this time his band wants to do a cover of the Nine Inch Nails track "Piggy".

Talking to Spinner ahead of the release of their third album "Night Work", Shears explains, "I love cover songs and I've always wanted to do a honky-tonk version of 'Piggy.' Me and [bandmate] Babydaddy are huge fans of Nine Inch Nails, I think Trent is a real genius."

In case there is someone interested,Scissor Sisters' frontman shared his thoughts on the band's forthcoming new record.

The singer said although he felt under pressure for it to perform following the previous two chart-topping LPs, he was "immensely proud" of the finished product.

Shears adds, "I think it's our most fun record. It's so over-the-top, a real party album. It's a celebration of sex in a lot of ways, there's all sorts of points of view in there, gay, straight and everything in between. There's a dark streak that runs through it though, if you read between the lines.

"There's some of the filthiest stuff we've ever written, but we've made it all so everything is innuendo to keep the radio people happy. The album is one ecstatic, joyful, sadistic disco nightmare!"

For now, listen and compare the band's most famous "sadistic disco nightmare" and the original:





Thanks for the report to Spinner.ca.