When you think about it, these MySpace Secret Shows really reached their logical conclusion last night. You can just shut it down now. A few songs into a set that was all new but for "LDN" and "Smile," Lily Allen thanked the site for throwing last night's free show at Bowery Ballroom, saying: "God knows they've helped me in my career." The show was first-come-first-serve, and according to Miss Modern Age's aggregated Twitter-feed reportage, the line was blocks long and cops were arresting tiny MySpacers for blocking subway stops. I believe all of that because citizen journalism is the future and Twitter is nothing if not a reliable narrator. When I arrived, though, just in time for the smiles and sinews of Matt & Kim, the line lessened and the crowd inside was that quintessential NYC mix of hyped up devotees and disengaged industry folk. Yay. (Ugh.)
So, the night had an unusual energy to it. In part that's because it's early in the tour (three more "secret shows" and then a proper run) and she's still feeling her way around framing the new material. Alright, Still dressed Lily's textual confessionals in ska samples and sunny promo shots, enough to diffuse the sadness on stage and make the shows and the drinking all part of a cheeky celebration. There's no such cloak in the occasionally melancholic electro-pop of It's Not Me, It's You, though, so when Lily tippedher liquor cup and laid bare her heart, the shit could be uncomfortably direct, momentarily devastating, and not necessarily what the kids who didn't know the new album had lined up for. That tension wasn't lost on Lily, so she laughed her way into some of the saddest parts and made the requisite album leak jokes: ("You're singing along. That means you've been illegally downloading, muthafuckaaas ... that's OK, I don't make money on the recordings anyway.")
But this wasn't a wake. Lily looked great. She danced, she glamor-posed, she smirked her way through It's Not Me, It's You's many fantastic songs. Her voice has never sounded better. She swilled scotch and covered Britney Spears. She fucked-off W. There are some duds lining the new stuff, and so the set dragged, but "The Fear" and "Fuck You" and "22" and "I Could Say" and etc. made a night of it. No, we weren't making life-long memories at Bowery, but you know, she is so charming. And it was free.
It's Not Me, It's You is out now, and you can buy it for $3.99 at Amazon. Lily did the Today show yesterday, you can see video of that and some clips from the better songs of the Bowery show below, and click through for photos by Santiago Felipe.
SETLIST
01 "Everyone's At It"
02 "LDN"
03 "I Could Say"
04 "Fuck You"
05 "Who'd Have Known"
06 "22"
07 "Hymn"
08 "Never Gonna"
09 "Go Back"
10 "Little Things"
11 "Smile"
12 "The Fear"
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13 "Womanizer"
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"Everyone's At It"
"Fuck You"
"I Could Say"
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"The Fear"
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"Womanizer"
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