We took a friend of ours to watch Antony and The Johnsons perform with the LA Philharmonic at the Walt Disney Concert Hall last night. He's one of those dudes (our friend, not Antony) who keeps his sneakers spotless for years and wears shirts with brass knuckles on them. We did it because we like experiments. Even after we warmed him up with a beer, dude kept his arms crossed during the beginning of Antony's melancholy set, but we swear he cracked a smile when Antony belted out a completely tweaked cover of Beyoncé's "Crazy In Love". While that was a pleasant surprise, the crowd was most excited by "For Today I Am A Boy" from I Am a Bird Now and were generally interested as he played the first three songs from his new Another World EP. Songs from his upcoming album, The Crying Light, came and went without introduction. The orchestra added new depth to the old material, further bringing out the inherent dichotomy of Antony's lyrics: at once throwing up his hands in despair, but remaining eternally hopeful. By the time the show ended, we think that Mr. Brass Knuckles’ eyes teared up a bit. We’re not positive because, coincidentally, there was something caught in ours too, but we're kind of softies.
