Gossip Girl

I feel compelled to rave about The Gossip's concert at Webster Hall last night.

For the first hour or so, the concert was good. No complaints. Here's a clip of "Yr Mangled Heart." But when the band launched into "Standing in the Way of Control," the performance soared to Amazing level. I literally thought Webster was going to implode amidst the energy of a sell-out crowd jumping, singing and rushing the stage during the encore.

Singer Beth Ditto was predictably outspoken, waxing philosophical on politics and media conglomerates' coverage of music and celebrities, and shooing a bouncer away when he tried to prevent a fan from jumping on stage during the show's closer "Listen Up" — which led to about 40 audience members following suit. Ditto eventually jumped (er, tepidly climbed down) into the crowd and it was like Palm Sunday a month too late - with fans clamoring to grab her hand as she led everyone in a self-affirming chant of "You Are Important!" while at the same time probably pondering how the hell she was going to hoist herself back on stage (eventually she just sort of walked back towards the front of the venue and headed backstage). I'm hoping a video of this lands on YouTube. It was really something to behold, and a really uplifting, positive message.

Also, what other concert can you go to where you'll hear both an Aaliyah cover (prefaced by Ditto saying "We're sorry we did this to you") and a rendition of "Careless Whisper" (video to come, I hope)?