Kevin Bronson on April 20th, 2009

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[Contributor Ali MacLean reports from the sweltering Outdoor Theatre:]

Sunday’s searing heat could not keep the Goths and vampires from the polo fields as the lineup would be a moody mecca with the Kills, My Bloody Valentine and the Cure. The warmup act for the Upstairs At Eric’s contingency was clearly perfect – Antony & The Johnsons.

A few hundred die-hard fans screamed in ecstacy as Antony took the stage in a diaphanous white gauze shirt and long unkempt hair.”  At first glance, Antony seemed to resemble a groovier Beth Ditto … if she had a penchant for Quaaludes. But then the striking resemblance to another pale hero emerged. Has anyone actually seen Robert Smith and Antony in the same room?

Accompanied by a laptop-generated background track and a string section, Antony crooned along to the sounds of a computer Wurlitzer as “Ghost World” enthusiasts in the front row swooned. Despite the uber-fans, the live show was a bit lackluster. The album “The Crying Light” is a beautiful work, however hearing it in the desert, rather than bedrooms, intimate dark clubs or Transylvanian castles, doesn’t have quite the same effect.

As Antony played his final number, “Kiss My Name,” the band and/or the laptop veered away from it’s recorded version into a Depeche Mode styled dirge and rocked out a bit. However, it was a bit too late as the crowd had already waned or melted away.