The Astoria is buzzing with a very unusual atmosphere tonight. The venue is overrun with clown-faced people laughing wildly over blood red drinks, faux-Victorian ladies gliding around under lacey parasols with their hair curled tight and piled high, low-rent Camden goths mingling with chunky Cyberdog people, and spiky-haired metal kids running around with those ubiquitous greasepaint-loving Brandon Lee fans. The upstairs Keith Moon bar has been transformed into some kind of European cabaret by a troupe called the Future Cinema made up of burlesque dancers sitting in cloth cages or marching and dancing around the room with massively padded prosthetic tits 'n' arses. Obviously, The Dresden Dolls have struck a chord with people who consider themselves to be outsiders in some way, or are just attracted to a certain kind of gothic/baroque dress-up style. Everywhere you look, there are tall feathers and charity store top-hats, stripes and straps and broad smiles on made up faces, and it all adds up to a rare sense of occasion.

In the main hall, I arrive just in time to see a guy in a little hat mincing around onstage and shrieking down what looks like a gramophone horn. I'm reminded a little of Tom Waits, not only because his stage show looks almost exactly like him, but because there's a creativity about it and an attractively skewed aesthetic at work. But then he's leaving the stage and I've missed him... I'll look forward to seeing Thomas Truax properly another time.

Future Cinema

Between bands is Bang On, introduced by The Dolls' singer Amanda Palmer as an act she saw playing in the street at Edinburgh fringe last year. The Banging take place On a large homemade orange construction made up of all kinds of bits and pieces - trash cans, pieces of metal, pots and pans, old guitar necks - hit with drumsticks to send rhythm reverberating through the room. In the spirit of busking, their petrol money is to come from audience contributions, so I make sure I chuck some coins into the orange bins that are doing rounds of the Astoria.

Devotchka start off with eastern European influenced folk beats and dancing played on upright bass, tuba, guitar and fiddle. Their set deteriorates when they veer into more predictable indie-ish territory, the high point being a dramatic guest appearance from the Dolls' singer Amanda Palmer, who receives a roof-raising reception.

pre-show acrobat / Dresden Dolls being paparazzied

What it is it I love about The Dresden Dolls again? I remember being first attracted to them by a photo on a live advert in the NME. Their painted faces leapt of the pages, and soon, the video for Girl Anachronism was leaping off the computer screen. And soon after that, the delicacy and wonder of the rest of their oeuvre got under my skin too; the way the songs seem like disembodied chapters from an unwritten musical - jerky, odd, gothic and manic, like a musical equivalent of a Tim Burton film.

Tonight, they come onstage after a spectacular performance from a female acrobat who climbs, hangs and swings from two long swathes of red material. There's little room for intimacy in this large hall, so instead they go for bombast, ploughing through adrenalised versions of their songs faster and harder than I've seen them do before. At times the melodies suffer at the hands of the pounding drums, the vocals and piano lagging behind slightly... you could be forgiven for thinking Brian Viglione was drumming for a metal band during the second half of their set, such is his enthusiasm. Even so, it's a powerful performance that's never less than engaging; at their best these dramatic tales of obsession, depression, love and lust are every bit as seductive as ever. And anyone could forgive a wobble or two as they develop their act to the big stage - but I'd hope to see Amanda on a grand piano sometime soon instead of an electric keyboard, and some swooping strings and extra accompaniment would help to enliven their sparse two-piece show.

Still, The Dresden Dolls are doing something genuinely different and interesting that people from many musical backgrounds evidently feel equally able to relate to - it'll be interesting to see what the future holds as this most unlikely of breakthrough bands continue their rapid rise to fame.

photos by John Brainlove