Live Review: Scissor Sisters

Exploding on stage with Any Which Way, Scissor Sisters ignite a rainbow-coloured party that sets Hamer Hall alight. Jake Shears's distinctive falsetto leads the way as the rest of the band build the familiar Bee Gees-esque dance-pop groove for which the Sisters are known. Amusingly, Scissor Sisters continue to attract a diverse following that ranges from über-glamorous drag queens and hordes of gay men and women to wide-eyed Janet and Brad types of all ages who have come to revel the night away.
Intent on showcasing their new album Magic Hour, they give us the bass-heavy bump and grind of Keep Your Shoes On that reflects the Sisters' recent move onto slicker and more commercial dancefloors without necessarily sacrificing the quirkiness for which many have come to love them. The disco moves and jaunty rolling piano hooks of Baby Come Home have Scissor Sisters recapturing some of the charm of hits off their debut album.

Ana Matronic reminds us that they are also here to dust off old classics from their first album as they playfully tease the crowd with the wilfully obscure, low-slung funk of The Skins that was only ever a bonus track on this album in the UK. While the party seems to be popping in the stalls, the vibe at the back of the circle is distinctly more toe-tapping. It takes Babydaddy to step into the spotlight and strum the intro for Take Your Mama before anyone in the circle is prepared to jump to their feet and really get the party started. Later, Comfortably Numb and I Don't Feel Like Dancing produce exactly the same results.

Year Of Living Dangerously finds Shears rather soulfully pondering monogamy and promiscuity in a way that leaves us wondering what he would make of Paris Hilton and Brett Easton Ellis's recent comments about Grindr. The ever reliable Urban Dictionary tells us that a kiki could refer to drag queens having sex, that it is slang in Filipino for female genitalia or, as the Sisters would like us to believe, it's just another word for a party. Let's Have A Kiki loses the disco sophistication of Studio 54 and bounces like the illegitimate child of handbag and vogue. It is a hilariously camp moment, smothered in cheese, and manages to put a smile on the faces of even the most jaded in the crowd. Matronic continues in the spotlight with a sassy solo turn on Skin This Cat before Shears returns to match this with Mary, which sounds like a long-lost gem written by Elton John.

Matronic delivers much of the patter in between songs while Shears remains curiously aloof, concentrating mainly on singing and dancing. Yet when Shears takes off his tee during Invisible Light it provokes almost every gay man in the audience to scream like teenage girls at a One Direction concert. Reminding us that the end is nigh, Matronic exclaims, “These are difficult times!” and repeats this a couple of times. She silences everyone before continuing, with strong emotion in her voice, “It's difficult to know how things will turn out for us as we fight for our rights, in your country and mine, but regardless of the outcome gay people will still love each other and still have children with each other even if they cannot marry each other.” As almost everyone in Hamer Hall applauds her words, she goes on: “If these mothers vote this shite down then history will show they voted for the wrong side because gay marriage is inevitable.” And with these words Matronic, sounding as though she is running for president, brings the main part of the show down.

Only The Horses gets the encore off to a slow and schmaltzy start, but a rocked-up version of Music Is The Victim goes off like The B-52's and gets the crowd jumping. The Sisters provide an irresistible but ultimately cheesy combination of '70s disco, Elton John, High School Musical and thumping beats. An evening of enjoyable, feel-good vibes that make sense in the moment but start to feel like a guilty pleasure as we leave the auditorium.