If you were a seven-year-old wondergirl about to be shot out of a cannon, after performing a short tap dance, what would you wear? A satin red skirted bathing suit with glittery gold Y's all over it is what you would wear. As you would if you were Karen O of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs performing at the Red Marquee, a seven year old trapped in a twenty year old's mature body, and knowing it. Prancing gangily around the stage, Karen is the cabaret that makes the YYY's show a stopper, a gather round and gawk her as she struts her stuff.
 
While some rock goddesses keep the unwieldy bulk of their drama off stage and lose the crowd after the initial curiousity is satisfied, Karen's is all on stage and keeping you intent. For the hit song "Art Star" off their EP she slips a black circle over her acrobat outfit- when she crouches down to sing, mike deep-throated in her mouth, she appears like an evil black M&M (no, the candy).
 

For the next she pulls the cover over her head, stops there, obscuring it in suspense, teasing the audience. What's coming next? A squeezebox beat crunches back and forth, while K's performance, it's self indulogent, it's just pure indulgent, indulge yourself, it's catchy and it's... off her head as we release into a Cramps striptease. Nicholas Zinner zig zags, Brian Chase tattoos a permanent lead and suddenly from the floor a guttural "GanBai!" is rasped out, followed by heavy breathing. And then giggles: who's in control here?

The YYY's can raise a prolonged session of clapping without even asking for it. They're doing something right. Karen dedicates the YYY's love song to David Byrne, Stephen Wright, to liars, to you, "Don't be afraid of love". And she laughs again.

 
She's always laughing that she's really doing this. And you're buying it, cause it's performance, something to set your eyes on and wonder, what's next, who's in control? The Yeah Yeah Yeah's know:

It's our time sweet baby...
It's the year to be hated
so glad that we made it...

It's our time
It's our time
It's our time
It's our time
It's our time
It's our time
It's our time
to be hated
all right