The Tiger Lillies: From the Circus to the Cemetery
Oxford Playhouse

TIRELESS and prolific performers though they are, an actual straightforward gig by the TIger Lillies is in fact quite a rare event. 

Everyone’s favourite macabre gypsy punk cabaret trio have traditionally staged full-on theatrical productions, operatic musicals replete with stylised sets (and occasionally additional actors), their music providing the narrative glue for all manner of tragi-comic dramas. 

Fans needn’t have worried, of course — consummate multi-instrumentalists, their songs are quite capable of holding their own — and, besides, this was still a theatrical event from start to finish. Bedecked in their trademark ghoulish clown makeup, the facial expressions alone are a work of art. 

The opening track Roll Up! sets the scene, recounting the various freaks and misfits of a circus sideshow, an apt metaphor for Jacques’ bleak, yet strangely comforting, view of humanity. 

Multifarious depravities, sadists and failures soon follow, the shrieks of “mummy!” (in “Mummy’s In a Mental Home”) as shrill and abrasive as a real live kid. 

Jacques’ falsetto and accordion is accompanied by infectiously shuffling rhythms and rolling basslines throughout, as well as spine-tingling atmospherics courtesy of Adrian Stout’s singing saw, bowed bass, jaw harp and theremin.

The second act is primarily a seething indictment of the invasion and occupation of Ukraine. 

A string of songs document various grim vignettes from the rising tide of atrocities, delivered with searing contempt for their architect in the Kremlin. The best of them, such as ‘Washing Machine Killers’, depict the tragic, gratuitous absurdity of war, whilst never losing sight of its horrific (in)human consequences. 

It’s hard-hitting, gut-wrenching and clearly coming from the heart, yet I can’t help feeling a little troubled. To the best of my knowledge — and I hope readers will correct me if I am wrong — Jacques has never been moved to write about the slaughters in the Congo, Iraq, Libya, Syria, Kurdistan, Afghanistan, Yemen, to name just a few of those his own government has directly or indirectly perpetrated in recent years. 

Fair enough, the band have spent a lot of time in both Ukraine and Russia, and so perhaps this one feels more real to them — but revealing themselves as being so passionately moved by war crimes inevitably raises difficult questions about what took them so long.

On tour until 10th June. For dates: tigerlillies.com