At their two co-headlining shows in Boston this weekend, The Dresden Dolls and Gogol Bordello collaborated on a dark and ominous cover of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds’ “Red Right Hand.” It came as the encore to Gogol Bordello’s set, and featured their full band joined by masked Dolls Amanda Palmer on vocals and Brian Viglione on tubular bell (a key instrument on this song). Well, we assume it was them; “Who that was we may never know,” Gogol Bordello’s Eugene Hutz joked as the masked duo left the stage.
Neither band appears to have ever covered “Red Right Hand” in their own show, though the Dolls did Cave’s “Mercy Seat” a few times many years ago. It made for a powerful post-Halloween performance, and an appropriately theatrical moment for two very theatrical bands (at one point Hutz was pouring something from a goblet in Palmer’s mouth). Watch videos taken from side-stage both nights.
