Patrick Wolf sprinkles his magic at the NYLON Summer Music Tour in New York

June 23, 2009, at Highline Ballroom

By Lissette Aguilar
Published: June 25th, 2009 | 5:53pm

Hailing from Portland, Oregon, Jaguar Love kicked off the show with an intense dose of adrenaline that did not falter throughout the 30-minute set. Band members Johnny Whitney and Cody Votolato peppered their time with a few songs from 2008's Take Me to the Sea (Matador), including the hit, “Highways of Gold,” but the band mainly highlighted new material such as the song “Polaroids and Red Wine.”

Plastiscines, a French all-female rock band, was next to perform. Band members Katty Besnard, Marine Neuilly, Louise Basilien, and Anaïs are impossibly good looking, but proved that they were more than just eye candy as they performed gritty garage rock melodies coupled with playful lyrics. The bilingual band performed mostly in English but did sneak French songs into the set, including their first single “Loser,” off 2007's LP1 (Virgin France).

Next, the St. Louis band Living Things took the stage with a fervor. Band members Lillian, Eve, and Bosh Berlin, and Cory Becker are infamous for vocalizing their left-wing political beliefs on stage and, not to disappoint, vocalist Lillian picked up his glass of merlot and made a toast to President Obama. Despite the sea of underage kids, the message resonated. The band performed “Bom Bom Bom” from 2005's Ahead of the Lions (Jive), arguably the catchiest song of the short set.

The crowd was antsy with anticipation as the road crew set up Patrick Wolf's multitude of instruments (baritone, ukulele, violin, Flying V electric guitar, keyboard), until Wolf finally emerged onto the stage. Draped in a leather-like capelet adorned with leafs, silver and black high-heeled boots, and a leather harness on his head, the notoriously eccentric Wolf did not disappoint with his avant-garde outfit. As he launched into “Vulture,” the single of his new album The Bachelor (Bloody Chamber Music), Wolf removed the capelet to reveal a black and gray skintight jumpsuit. Wolf also integrated songs from 2007's The Magic Position (Loog) into the 90-minute set, and the enamored crowd was oblivious to any technical difficulties until Wolf halted the show to complain about the feedback. “I'm not trying to be a diva, I just have standards,” he said.

A consummate musician and performer, Wolf floated from instrument to instrument seamlessly, and not even a broken heel could stop his flow. With every song performed, Wolf not only stripped his clothes but seemed to also reveal more of himself in the process. Midway through the fifteen-song set, Wolf touched on the subject of gay marriage that proved to be an appropriate setup for the frenzied call-to-arms song, “Battle.” Later, Wolf sat at his keyboard to perform a “serious song about West Sussex” and his father, entitled “Blackdown,” but it was soon disrupted when Wolf got ticked off by an attendee’s grating comment.

Despite all the bumps in the road, Wolf continued on with crowd favorites, including “Hard Times” and “Accident & Emergency,” before he ended with his biggest hit, “The Magic Position.” After a quick wardrobe change, Wolf returned to the stage for a two-song encore that included a “brand new song to make up for the bad sound,” the perfect way to cap a nearly five-hour show.

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