VENUS ZINE: ANTONY & THE JOHNSONS SHED THEIR TEAR-WORTHY LIGHT ON CHICAGO

Live review of an Antony & The Johnsons concert at the Vic Theatre in Chicago on February 12, 2009. Photo by Kirstie Shanley. Posted on the Venus Zine Web site on February 15, 2009.

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ANTONY  & THE JOHNSONS SHED THEIR TEAR-WORTHY LIGHT ON CHICAGO
February 12, 2009, at the Vic Theatre

When Antony Hegarty opens his mouth to sing, he makes you feel as if you’re the only person in the room. And he does this by completely ignoring you; by singing to himself, for himself. These lyrics are so personal that they could not have been written for any reason other than a cathartic one. His lilting melodies and smooth voice transport you into a dream — his dream — and you feel as though you are intruding on a magical moment. It is like you are looking into his diary, reading the entries that he wrote just for himself to get through the especially dark, painful nights.

Seated at the bench of a massive Steinway, Hegarty occupied more than half the stage, leaving little room for the six Johnsons that accompanied him on Thursday night. As his soft and pudgy fingers danced across the ivory and ebony keys, the Johnsons accompanied Hegarty on all manner of instruments, producing the sort of orchestral sound that completely envelops the listener. These things — the orchestral sound, the intimate and impassioned lyrics, the unique vocals — are what Hegarty and his band are known for. They are also the reason the show at the Vic was sold out. One thousand fans packed into the walls of the old venue and argued over plastic chairs that are not normally there but were placed specially for this performance. (The organizers knew that this would not be the kind of show where you need to be standing and swaying. In fact, better to be seated where, when you start to sob, you will have your own small bubble of personal space.)

This stop was part of a national tour to promote the band’s third album, The Crying Light (Secretly Canadian), which hit shelves in mid January. Tickets, which initially sold for $28, were going on Craigslist for about $80 the day before the show. It was obvious, though, that the audience were not new converts to the church of Antony. Hegarty gained a new audience when he appeared as the singer on Hercules and Love Affair’s breakout, dance-inspired single “Blind” in early 2008, but those fans were nowhere to be found. Older hits such as “You Are My Sister” and “For Today I Am a Boy,” off the 2005 release I Am a Bird Now (Secretly Canadian), were met by enthusiastic cheers and matched word-for-word by the crowd.

After each song you are jarred awake by thunderous applause and realize, for a brief moment before the next song starts, that you’re not the only one in the room. But it doesn’t matter: those three minutes alone with Hegarty and his music are all that you — and anybody else in the room — needs.

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