Alex Cameron & Roy Molloy returned to their roots Friday night by performing just as a duo. Cameron who was born and raised in Sydney Australia is known for his persona of a failed entertainer. Cameron was joined with saxophonist Roy Malloy his “business partner,” and together they are touring the US promoting their 2017 album “Forced Witness”.
Fans like myself waited in the cold for the doors to open at First Ave.’s 7th Street Entry. Once I was inside, I decided to sit and conserve my legs upon seeing the line up consisted of three acts. The first listed was Emily Panic, second Lola Kirke, and last Alex Cameron & Roy Molloy. It was great watching fans come in and look at the merch table, one fan in particular asking the seller if he knew Alex Cameron, and just praising his greatness, and appreciation for him and their music.
Emily Panic, comedian, kicked-off the night cracking jokes about audience members in the crowd. She pointed out one fan who looked like the brother of a murdered child, and another airspace engineering student who stumped her. She shared some dark, feminist sarcastic jokes and the audience loved it. It was a great way to start the night and warm the crowd up for Lola Kirke.
Lola came out on the stage with her signature shell pink Stratocaster joined by lead slide guitarist and backing vocalist Lila Larson. They opened playing a cover of a Ted Lucas song, who was an American rock guitarist from the 60s and 70s (opened for The Eagles, Frank Zappa, Yes, John McLaughlin, Black Sabbath, Ravi Shankar, and others). Kirke was excited to be in the Twin Cities performing here for her first time.
Lola and Lila complemented another beautiful. The audience was dazed and hypnotized by their haunting voices, and warm guitar tones. They played songs like “Monster” and “Sexy Song” from Kirke’s album “Heart Head West”, as well as the newly released single “Baby Where You Are” (Feat. WYNDHAM). Lola would crack jokes in between songs, and was very natural and engaging with the crowd. She told audience members they could buy underwear at the merch table that was hand embroidered from France. She even brought Roy Molloy up as a guest for one song.
Lola surprised the crowd by performing her last song alone and “karaoke style”. She danced around singing and gracefully head banging her her feathered 70s hair to even dancing on the floor. People couldn’t turn their eyes away. It was like watching a Cher before she was Cher. The crowd was excited to see her let loose (similar to how some of us jam out by dancing to music like no one is watching in our living rooms).
Before Alex and Roy came out onto the stage, I was able to meet Lola after her set as she waited at the merch table. I asked her how she and Lila came to be partners, and she told me “The cosmos really brought us together, we share the same star sign”. She talked about how she was excited for the release of her upcoming album featuring a lot of great artists.
Alex and Roy came out and the crowd went wild, dancing and singing along to every song. Alex sang a crowd favorite “Candy May” where he explained originally was meant to be a love song that after he played it for the person he wrote it for, they cried and broke up with him. The music stoped and the audience sang the song with Alex. I’ve never seen a crowd sing every word to a song in this venue. The energy between the crowd and Alex and Roy was incredible.
Roy would bust out sax solos and everyone loved it. For one tune Alex invited Lola to come back on stage and they took turns singing different versus, and was great to see Alex practice what he preached to support gender equality by sharing the stage with her. The curation of the whole line up of the night was a great. The energy from Alex and Roy truly transcended to the crowd and was exchanged back and forth making for a great night.
