Little Boots and Class Actress: A Double Class Act

Though it was a Tuesday night -- which is almost as bad as a Monday night -- Chelsea’s Highline Ballroom was in a party mood. 

After a short set from Brooklyn-based band Body Language, who get points for managing to sing “hot like butter / easy to spread” completely unironically, Class Actress took the stage. If Elizabeth Harper and her band aren’t on your radar -- and why aren’t they? Out.com recently caught up with lady herself -- they should be. Drowned in darkness and suffering from a bad mix of loud synth and low vocals it was impossible to do anything but feel the music thrum in your chest. The title track from her EP, Journal of Ardency, is especially a foot-stomper, though.

Never one to disappoint, when Victoria Hesketh, aka Little Boots, stepped out in a gold-lame dress and spiked heels, there was a roar of approval from the audience. With a new stage set that incorporated a lot of lasers, which were almost as mesmerizing to watch as Little Boots herself, she blasted through upbeat "New in Town" and the ballad-like "Hearts Collide." But it was the half-point in the show that really awed the crowd. Masked, hooded and cloaked, Ms. Hesketh played a laser harp for her song "Earthquake." And if you are having a hard time imagining what a laser harp is and how one plays it, it’s just as simple as strumming upward bounced laser strings, which is probably not as simple as it sounds. The effect is singularly impressive.

For the encore, we were treated to an acoustic rendering of a new song, Echo. It has unfortunate parentage as it was inspired by the Twilight novels, but if we ignore that little fact, it’s a very beautiful song. To end things with a bang, "Stuck on Repeat" was saved for the last hurrah and the lasers were out in full force.

A chance L-train encounter with Randy Harrison (Justin on Queer as Folk) rounded out the evening nicely. It’s very likely he had been in attendance at the show, or at least he should have been as there was no better party in town Tuesday night.

-- OLGA  BAS

Previously > Hummer: Owen Pallett's "Lewis Takes Off His Shirt"