Oh Delaney and Paris, Portland’s own raunchy acoustic folk duo, put on an entertaining night this past Friday. If you haven’t heard of Delaney and Paris by now, then you haven’t spent enough evenings in downtown Portland at the, uh, let’s say “more liberal”, bars. I’ve seen these two girls play fairly packed shows at Dante’s, Ash Street Saloon, and the Someday Lounge, but their most recent endeavors include a monthly show at the Tiger Bar, appropriately titled “A Night in Delaney and Paris”. The theme for this month’s show was equally appropriate – Valentine’s Aftershock.
If burlesque dancers, transvestites, and comedic songs about STDs, vagina’s, and murder is your bag then you really missed out if you weren’t present at Tiger Bar on Friday. Delaney and Paris serenaded the audience with such tunes in between burlesque performances by Kit Katastrophic, Fleur De Sel, Zora Phoenix, and Lucky O’Rebel. They played to a crowd as big as you can comfortably fit into the Tiger Bar, and managed to capture the audience’s attention, laughter, and applause throughout the night. The evening ended with special musical guest Sabrina Chap, hailing from New York. Take away the acoustic guitar and replace it with a keyboard, add an accent, and Sabrina’s music is a slightly less grotesque mirror of DP’s, or maybe DP’s music is a slightly more grotesque mirror of Sabrina’s–Ms. Chap is older and has been in the game much longer–either way, Sabrina Chap did a nice job of putting the icing on the cake for the evening with a similar, yet alternative sound to Delaney and Paris.
The show flowed very nicely, due largely to these two girls’ ability to engage the crowd with provocative banter and dialogue in between each song–which made the entire set feel like it strung together as a story. These two young ladies are definitely Portland’s very own queens of witty, controversial lyrics. Mix the content of their music with their promiscuous stage presence (don’t be surprised if they offer to make out with you or give you a blow job during the show), and you’re sure to head home at the end of the night either offended, or ready to watch porn.