Antony and the Johnsons, Feb. 2, The Keswick Theatre

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Antony and the Johnsons, Feb. 2, The Keswick Theatre

POSTED: Tuesday, February 3, 2009, 4:55 PM

Filed Under: Music Last Night

Photo | John Vettese

The hints, the little symbols of your devotion

"I'm hitting a lot of sours tonight, so I apologize," Antony Hegarty said to a modest Keswick Theatre crowd. "I've got lemons on my fingertips." A citric metaphor by way of explaination for some supposed flubs, but it was hardly necessary. Sure, it was the first night of tour and maybe he hadn't been behind the Steinway in front of a theater crowd since 2006. But whatever mistakes Hagerty was fretting over were subaudible if at all. Antony and the six-person orchestra that is The Johnsons played with poise and delicate panache, tackling songs from across the Manhattan Welshman's catalogue - the baroque airs of "Epilepsy is Dancying," the meloncholic piano ascent on "Cripple and the Starfish," his popular rendition of Beyonce's "Crazy In Love" followed immediately by the steady soul vamp on "Fistful of Love" - which I swore would not work without the horn accompaniment but good God it totally did. If sours were present, they were tastefully absorbed but the skillful ensemble. Chrissakes, some dude on a center asile seat kept hollering "I want your lemon fingertips." Hagerty seemed momentarily embarassed, laughed, wondered aloud how tall the fellow was. Stepping out for the encore, he and the Johnsons threw a couple bouquet's worth of white roses to the crowd. More photos after the jump.

Photo | John Vettese

An added perk to the show was Antony's good-natured ribbing of Fishtown. I didn't have my tape recorder going, so this is roughly paraphrased, but still hysterical:

"So I spent some time in Fishtown recently. I was quite impressed. I wish there were still places like that in Manhattan."

Sounds really complementary at first, yeah? But he continued, talked of visiting a friend who moved there, and how:

"It was great, there was this like 17-year-old girl on roller skates and in bright orange pigtails and - okay, so maybe that part wasn't so great - but its broad daylight, she's standing very erect and [*makes twitchy expression and affects an uber-valley girl voice*] 'Do you need directions?!?!' 'Um, actually, no, we were just wondering about that abandoned police precinct over there. Is it for sale?'"

(I live on the Mt. Airy / Germantown border, so I've got no idea what he's talking about here. Hey Fishtownies, did he travel deep into your burg to see this, or is he just really confused?)

Continued Antony:

"And then there's that part right on the main street, underneath where the trains go by. And along the street, there are all those abandoned bank buildings. You look inside, and they're just these majestic ruins. Yes, mmmm...ruins. Enjoy your city, everyone."

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