First Stop: The Dresden Dolls

In early September, when punk cabaret duo The Dresden Dolls announced its first tour in three years, Amanda Palmer and Brian Viglione didn’t do something lame like dictate a press release to a publicist. They dressed up like Boston society ladies (they’re from Massachusetts) and recorded a YouTube video wearing floppy garden-club hats and Laura Ashley dresses; then, brandishing teacups and working their lace fans, they faked having an epiphany about playing Irving Plaza in New York on Halloween to celebrate the band’s exact 10th anniversary—the two met at a Halloween party in 2000. (“It will be f--king splendid!” effused Palmer.) Though this is a milestone tour, it’s also a very short one—only eight dates—including a Gulf Coast fundraiser in New Orleans and a date in St. Louis. And true to the band’s DIY roots, The Dresden Dolls are not dragging along another big-name band for the entirety of the tour, but rather handpicking locals to open for them in each city. In Chicago, that’s punk-rock marching band Mucca Pazza; here, it’s another boy-girl duo, Sleepy Kitty, whose spangly, poppy “songlets” will be a bright contrast to the Dolls’ darkly funny, stripped-down Brechtian ballads.