Dream Diva

The Bowie video was so good, we decided to queue up Siouxsie: Dreamshow: Live (2006). If you aren't familiar with Siouxsie Sioux, she kind of started the goth movement with her band, the Banshees in the 70s and 80s. The Dreamshow movie records a show from a later period but still very impressive.

The stage features a small orchestra (maybe ~20 pieces, strings and horns, a harp and tubular bells), a bass and guitar, a taiko drum set up and a drum riser for Siouxsie's drummer and ex-husband Budgie. We get a drum duet to start, then Siouxsie comes out in a kimono and goth-geisha makeup. The songs are dark, arty, poppy, percussive and orchestral. Siouxsie is an exotic, flowing diva, with a tetchy temper and a foul mouth.

I really only know the hits, and they played most of them (not Dazzle, though - one of my faves). The whole thing was really beautifully filmed and well produced, but somehow, it failed to captivate me. We faded sometime around an hour in, figured we'd pick it up later and never did. Maybe I just wasn't familiar with enough of the songs. Maybe her style (or this lineup) is better in smaller doses.

So I don't know if I should recommend this for fans only, or as background, or if you should watch it in chunks. Or just skip it.