New York Dolls at South Street Sea Port
New York Dolls at South Street Sea Port, New York, NY—August, 18, 2006
Seeing a band on a giant pier, next to a pirate ship, in the shadow of skyscrapers is a pretty awesome experience. Seeing legendary proto-punks The New York Dolls play their greatest hits on said pier was just surreal.
The band opened with “Just Looking For A Kiss” to the joy of the few hundred aging punkers that surrounded the stage. Original members Syl Sylvian and David Johansen took center stage flanked by hired guns that looked just like the dead bandmates they replaced. The Dolls tore through a good portion of their back catalog, including “Trash” and their cover of Bo Diddley’s “Pills.” Johansen, looking both emaciated and sexy never waivered, sounding just as good as he did back in the day. Sylvian, on the other hand, was a train wreck–missing notes, breaking guitars, and just plain rocking out as best as he could. Luckily, the younger guys backing him more than made up for his mistakes.
Rather than just wallow in the past, The Dolls broke out at least four songs off their latest release, including the single “Dance Like Monkey,” which got the crowd dancing to Johansen’s odd monkey noises. An hour and a half and two encores later, The New York Dolls called it a night with the classic “Personality Crisis” as the audience smiled from ear to ear and sang along to ever word. Anyone doubting whether The Dolls should reunite sans three-fifths of the original line-up was left realizing that it’s the songs that make a band not just the members that played them.
