Thursday, July 07, 2005
Shocked it took me 15 minutes to get from Long Beach to the John Anson Ford the Friday before a holiday weekend. Got there so early we had time to mingle a bit with the scene, which came out in full force to see Petra Haden take center stage with her 9-woman choir (aka The Sellouts) for the premiere performance of "The Who Sell Out". Despite its modest intentions, there's been a considerable amount of press for this record, which probably helped in getting this show into a large seated theatre rather than a mid-sized club -- which probably would have suited Petra just fine, as modest as she is with her talent. Luckily for fans, family, and friends (including Rachel Haden, Matt Sharp, Miranda July, Becky Stark, new L.A. transplant Sara Radle, members of Let's Go Sailing, Dengue Fever, and others) the beautiful (and under-utilized) Ford served as the perfect stage for this amazing night. Stephen Prina opened the show doing covers of his own (from Joni to Magnetic Fields) and a few from Push Comes to Love (I believe I heard "Too Strong" as I was rushing back to my seat). I'd never seen him perform before, something that came as a shock to the audiophilic Angelites around me. Sorry.
Petra's performance was nearly perfect. But that was expected. What was maybe uncertain is if they would perform the whole album non-stop, which is sometimes the case with whole-album performances. Thankfully, she didn't and would break into her usual cute "banter". The choir was pretty damn great themselves. Anchored by ex-Lava Diva/current Resonant Heads lead and drummer for Sounds of Asteroth Dawn Frinta on percussion (?) and reinforced by a who's who of scene veterans including Tammy Hart, Tanya Haden, and a very pregnant Carla Commagere, they seemed to breeze through all the complex vocal workouts in Petra's arrangements. There were too many highlights: "Silas Stingy" was genius; Petra doing Townshend was fun to see live, especially with her matching air guitar; Tanya's one-liners; and of course the encore (a beautiful rendition of Petra's "Look Both Ways Before You Cross").
For those not able to attend, there were a few XL2's and X-Y'd mic's set up around the theatre, which leads me to think that a DVD isn't out of the question.
Triumphant was the way she'd felt as she acknowledged the applause...
Related articles:
ARTFORUM
L.A. CityBeat - She Can Sing For Miles and Miles
Now Playing Magazine - Ear Plugs: Petra Haden, Petra Haden Sings: The Who Sell Out
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