Personality Crisis

Kathy and I saw the New York Dolls Wednesday night, and … daaaaaaaamn … they put on a great show. Thrilling, really. I’d never seen the Dolls before (their last show here was in 1981, opening for Pat Benatar), and I’m so glad I went. The Northwest Doppelganger saw them in her neighborhood a couple of weeks ago and told me it was a must show, so I squealed when Kathy told me she had two tickets.

The concert was a double treat for me because I rarely get to see Kathy, and she’s one of my favorite people. Just damn cool. She spent some formative years in Manhattan (others in London and Paris, lucky girl), and has some great stories of those days. But those are Kathy’s stories to tell, not mine. However, I’m impressed by them, so you can be impressed via moi.

The show was part of Little Steven’s Underground Garage Tour. Four bands performed before the Dolls hit the stage. The Chesterfield Kings were great … The Charms were okay … Supersucker super sucked (they try too hard to be party boys; gets boring) … and we missed the first band.

Kathy and I got close to the stage, about six or seven deep from the stage. And thank God we did. David Johansen strutted and commanded the stage in full rocker glory — black leggings, tons of sparkly baubles, a vision in glam. But, damn, he’s frighteningly tiny; I want to feed him lots of grits and biscuits. He knows how to work a stage, though, and that’s why I was there. Sylvain Sylvain lives in Atlanta these days, which was news to me. He was adorable on stage, talking about how he loves his hometown (which is funny to hear in that Noo Yawk accent). Johansen and Sylvain are still the height of cool.

Yeah, so they’re missing Johnny Thunders and Arthur “Killer” Kane. I sneered about this tour — and the new album, which I plan to pick up after I get out of the office today (yes, it’s Saturday; it’s been that kind of week, kids) — but they did a good job replacing those irreplaceables on this tour.

Sleep deprivation prevents me from remembering the entire setlist, but we heard “Pills” and “Trash” and “You Can’t Put Your Arms Around a Memory.” They closed the night with “Personality Crisis”:

We’re off to Johansen’s left.

This was a crowd pleasing to those of us who love watching crowds. One of the most interesting mixes I’ve seen in a long time. You had rockabillies and punks, former fratboys on a night out from the ‘burbs, rednecks and scenesters, folks who enjoyed the Dolls the first go-round and kids who were born years after that glorious moment in time. Our fave was the tall guy in a suit, leopard fez, and spats. Some folks around us tried to get a mosh going, but they ended up just crashing into each other.

God, I love live music …

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