Posted by Liz Niland on January 11, 2010
I received the Holy Water from the mouth of the King… At Sydney’s Oxford Art Factory. In the space of one very sweaty hour of dance-fuelled excitement, I went from being an inquisitive music fan keen to see the buzz from Berlin, to a sequin-loving, jazz-hand waving, disciple of the one and only King Khan. Taking to the stage in a leopard-print blazer, feathered headdress and a sultry swagger not seen since the early days of James Brown, King Khan provided a show that had pizzazz above and beyond that displayed by many, if any, of his contemporaries.
And while I’ve spent the majority of the last decade building a career that’s mostly far removed from psychedelic rock music, one of King Khan’s “Shrines” took just one round of ‘Welfare Bread’ to have me re-evaluating my chosen path. The Shrine in question was Bamboorella - the Gogo Queen of the Underworld. Dressed in a sequined dress and matching headband, her sole task was to shake her pompoms to the infectiously funky beats created by the balance of the Shrines. When I grow up, I want to be Bamboorella.
Jumping from the stage to join the appreciative crowd for an all-in jumping-jazz rendition of ‘Took My Lady To Dinner’, King Khan didn’t wait long before stripping down to a pair of fetching black lycra shorts worked back with a golden cape. Needless to say, I was beyond besotted by the time I received a shower of Mount Franklin from the mouth of the man himself.
Image by Lou Helliwell
oxford arts factory, king khan and the shrines