A sold-out crowd seized the 9:30 club Friday night, dancing for the right to acceptance and the power to party on its own terms. British songstress Lily Allen and Seattle-based indie pop/techno band Natalie Portman's Shaved Head (NPSH) played to a crowd that collectively raised its middle fingers in the air in rejection of small-mindedness and sexual frustration.
After overcoming any primary confusion based in the perception that actress Natalie Portman may have suddenly decided to head out on tour as a band named after her own hairless cranium, it's evident that NPSH does not advertise falsely. Everything about the band screams celebration, from their lead singer Shaun Libman's too-tight jeans to keyboardist Claire England's shiny hipster hair bow. The lyrics of their songs, which cover topics from Shamu-watching to beard infatuation, are both random and relentless.
The group's catchiest song, "Sophisticated Side Ponytail," is one-and-a-half minutes of electronic nonsense featuring yell backs and remixed calypso beats. They offer nothing that will cause one to think too much about the philosophies of musical composition, but played on the over-amped speakers of the 9:30 club, they were a perfect reception for the humid spring evening. Given their origins of playing solely a drum machine and keyboards, both England and Libman showed surprising fluidity in their ability to easily transition from respectable vocal turns to keyboard and guitar.
Although the group's outlandish moniker may make for a strange introduction to their sound, behind the peculiar name NPSH is both original and sincere. Their sound is eccentrically psychedelic, but seeing the energy with which they interact both with the wildly receptive audience and each other it's easy to understand the joy from which their art emanates.
Much has been said, written and - most frequently - gossiped about Lily Allen. From drunken Amy Winehouse-esque orgies to rumors of drug and alcohol addiction, the speculations flying around about the U.K.-based artist prepared the audience to expect no more than a heavily intoxicated shell to take the stage Friday night.
But those preconceptions were remarkably incorrect. Allen took the stage promptly at her expected time of 10:15 p.m. and appeared coherent, sober and completely on her mark. The result was a show that had both the spark of spontaneity and the tight polish of an artist who both knew and respected her own material.
Occasional comparisons have been drawn between Allen and the often-addled Britney Spears, but the two couldn't occupy more opposite ends of the spectrum. Allen, who has a much higher register in concert, performed in an engaging and completely live fashion with no smoke or mirrors and only a single clothing change.
Following the release of her newest album, "It's Not Me, It's You," her repertoire has expanded to a considerably diverse array of both pithy pop singles and sexually charged ballads.
While the content of her songs, relating to material such as premature ejaculation ("Not Fair") and the price of consumerism ("The Fear"), may not appeal to all, it's clear Allen will continue to continue down her own artistic path, free of public influence or outside pressure. Her songs resonate in personal sentiment more than many other tunes by other pop artists, because she has experience grounded in a reality that seems not too distant from the difficulties of the average 20-something.
The pinnacle of the evening was Allen's farewell ode to President Bush, "Fuck You," during which the entire audience simultaneously joined the singer in flipping the bird to the world, content to party on, inspired by Allen's ability to be both carefree and extraordinarily poignant.
You can reach this staff writer at jcoughenour@theeagleonline.com.
