My Brightest Diamond Starts a Party in New York

"I forgot to account for rocking out messing up my hairpiece," My Brightest Diamond's Shara Worden said as she re-pinned her feathered and sequined accessory at New York's Bowery Ballroom Friday night. Early on in her band's show, Worden's spastic-but-graceful antics made it quite clear that anything attached to her head wasn't going to stay there for long.

Worden is an adventurous performer, whether she's taking a mid-song dance break, swaying her hips while plucking a finger piano, or stunning her audience with a long-held high note. She does it all with a coy, mischievous grin on her face.

Even though many of her songs about storms, stars and planets are sonically dark, the show had the feel of a circus, or perhaps an elementary-school birthday party: Balloon animals were made on stage before the set, and when Worden and her two-man band entered, they passed out party hats and dumped handfuls of confetti over the crowd.

There was good enough reason for a party too. Aside from the Jan. 26 release of the remix album 'Shark Remixes,' it was the band's first hometown show in quite a while, since Worden has been busy touring with the Decemberists and collaborating with David Byrne and the National, among others.

Worden was dressed for the occasion, in shiny silver leggings and a short, black-sequined dress embellished with rhinestones, pearls and flowing streams of silk ribbons, while the guys had jeweled shoulder pads on their jackets. The band worked through tracks from My Brightest Diamond's two LPs, 2006's 'Bring Me The Workhorse' and 2008's 'A Thousand Shark's Teeth.' 'Freak Out' was grungy and featured a backup dancer, and 'Gone Away' was slow and emotional, a way for Worden to catch her breath after dancing her way through 'Disappear.' The crowd cheered every time the songstress conquered a lengthy high note, many of which were so powerful that the sound carried even when she stood a couple feet back from the microphone.

Scattered throughout Worden's own tunes were a handful of covers, including a stripped-down and soulful rendition of Prince's 'How Come U Don't Call Me Anymore?' and a rocking take on 'Tainted Love' with echoed vocals.

The show ended with two one-song encores: 'The Gentlest Gentleman,' involving a ukulele and crowd sing-along, and the other a cover of Brenda Lee's 'If You Love Me (Really Love Me).' When Worden joked that it was time to slow things down since she riled everyone up earlier in the night, one fan made a fitting request: "Rock us to sleep, baby!"