Chicago-based rock violinist and advocate for freedom of all kinds Emilie Autumn has extended her inaugural U.S. Asylum tour in support of the recent release of the Deluxe Edition release of her seminal album Opheliac on The End Records. Her not-to-be-missed two hour plus live show is an extravagant event involving music, burlesque, fire, trapeze, stilt-walking, all performed on an impressively elaborate set, handmade by Emilie herself.
"The Asylum show is a glam-rock circus where 'tea' is never really just tea, and madness reigns," explains Emilie. "This is no rock show; I have no interest in rock shows. This is Vaudeville. This is a f*cking Broadway musical."
Like Emilie herself (who not only created the set but handmade all the Victorian-era stage costumes), her shows exude an intense communal feeling of liberation for her fans, many of whom dress up similarly to their icon. An advocate for freedom of all kinds - creative, physical and sexual, Emilie promotes a healthy liberation from oppression. "I want to promote absolute freedom and fearlessness, not only for myself, but for everyone, and especially for girls," she explains. "Restricting your sexuality because you think it will prevent you from being taken seriously is just another form of oppression, and being controlled by someone else's opinion of who you ought to be. If I take off all my clothes, and I do it because I myself want to do it, then it is automatically a demonstration of feminism, not the denial of it."
Accompanied by her corset-donning Bloody Crumpets (her backup performers/singers), each personifying a different part of her psyche, Emilie has been creating quite a stir for her live shows. LA Weekly crowned her "The Next Big Rock Star" and gushed, "In 1996, I saw The Cure at The Forum, where the band played for three hours and offered no opening band... I thought then that no one else could sustain a set like that, and, until last weekend, I had never seen anyone attempt a similar feat. Then I saw Emilie Autumn." Denver Post celebrated the show as well, declaring, "It's not every day that an audience gets showered with tea and crumpets. Then again, Emilie Autumn doesn't exactly put on a typical show."
Her long-awaited autobiographical, reality-bending thriller The Asylum for Wayward Victorian Girls will be released in December and will be available at the merch table at her shows and also online
11/20 Oklahoma City, OK Diamond Ballroom
11/21 Little Rock, AR The Village
11/22 New Orleans, LA House of Blues
11/23 Austin, TX Emo's
11/25 St. Petersburg, FL The State Theatre
11/26 Ft. Lauderdale, FL Culture Room
11/27 Jacksonville Beach, FL Freebird Live
11/28 Charleston, SC The Music Farm
11/29 Carrboro, NC Cat's Cradle
11/30 Washington, DC 9:30 Club
12/2 Brooklyn, NY Music Hall of Williamsburg
12/3 Millvale, PA Mr. Smalls Theatre
12/4 Cincinnati, OH Bogart's
12/5 Louisville, KY Headliner's Music Hall
12/6 Pontiac, MI The Eagle Theater
12/8 Milwaukee, WI Pabst Theater