[ATTENDED: November 28, 2017] St. Vincent
Two summers ago St. Vincent co-headlined XPNFest. Our seats weren’t great but her show was spectacular. I was bummed that it was a co-headline, because she played five fewer songs than for her other shows, but it was still incredible. I knew I wanted to see her again.
And then she went into a kind of hiatus–she appeared doing a few things, but no tour. And then she came back with a whole new campaign–fear the future. Gone was the curly white hair and in was a whole new look. It was very day-glo and very sexy. Right down to the album cover of a woman’s ass bent over with her front end shoved through a wall.
It was a stunning visual campaign, with Annie doing filmed “interviews” while the “crew” of women walked around with their breasts and asses cut out of their body suits. There was clearly a message, although I’m not exactly sure what the message was. Or is.
And then I learned that her new tour was going to be just her on her (newly designed) guitar with backing tracks. While I didn’t doubt her ability to play to a backing track (I’ve seen her play amazingly with no backing at all), I was afraid it would lose some of the looseness that I’ve loved about her shows.
I read that the show was 150 minutes, so I expected a pretty big production. Sarah was supposed to come but when our babysitting options dried up, she sacrificed her spot, which made it less fun for sure.
I was nervous about the Electric Factory after my troubled Nick Cave show–slow parking, over-crowding, terrible floor location because of all the delays. I wanted to arrive early but somehow managed to get there only around 15 minutes before showtime. Somewhat surprisingly it was not sold out, so that eased things a bit. Even better, I was able to park for free on 5th Street, only a block away. I even managed to get a pretty good spot on the floor. Not super close, but unobstructed.
The show was scheduled to start at 8. By 8:15, we were getting restless. And then the curtain opened to reveal a video screen.
The opening act proved to be her short movie The Birthday Party.
I had been interested in seeing the film so I was pretty happy that it was shown. I knew it was supposed to be a horror film, but it really wasn’t. It’s more of a suburban-life-is-a-horror-isn’t-it, type of movie. I enjoyed the comic nature of it, but I was puzzled by the motive of the main character. Although the overall creep factor was pretty high (and she made full use of the soundtrack at the club–so much that I actually had to put earplugs in, even though I didn’t need them when she played).
So, after that 15 minute movie, I figured she’s be out in a few minutes and the night would begin.
Unfortunately, she didn’t go on stage until 9. That was a pretty long time to stand around.
Then the lights dimmed and she appeared on stage. All was forgiven because she chose to come out on my side of the stage. In fact, the entire stage remained curtained except for the small place where she stood (in the by now familiar pink outfit with thigh high boots). I wondered how well the people on the other side of the room could see her.
But it didn’t matter. Because there she stood right in front of us singing (no guitar yet) “Marry Me.” The backing music was spare and she sang beautifully. Then a woman in a blue body suit (and some kind of face covering) brought out her guitar.
She put her guitar on (the first of possibly 12 different guitars that she played that night) and proceeded to play “Now, Now” the second of two songs from her debut album. It was wonderful to be so close to her and to watch how effortlessly she played the guitar, especially the harmonics.
Then she played the first of two songs from her second album Actor. She started with “The Stranger” and I loved how (like on the record) the song went from pretty and quiet to noisy and chaotic). And I was able to get a good look at her hands before she moved away.
Then the curtain opened a bit more, a guy in a black body suit moved her microphone stand, the woman in blue brought out another guitar and she moved a little further away to play another song from Actor. I love “Actor Out of Work” and was pretty excited to hear it again.
She continued to move through her career (and the stage) to the Strange Mercy album. She played a tremendous “Cruel” (which the crowd went nuts) for and then a roaring “Cheerleader” which the crowd went even more nuts for. By this time she was on the far side of the stage, with the curtains wide open.
And then everything went dark. The rear curtain opened to show a woman with vampire teeth and Annie sitting in the middle of the floor. The music swelled and she sang “Strange Mercy” to the backing track.
Two more songs from Strange Mercy followed and with the full stage in view, Annie was even more animated. She did some of the movements she performed on the previous tour during “Digital Witness” and “Rattlesnake.” And she did get to wail a little while at the end of “Rattlesnake.”
And then she ended the first “act” with a scorching “Birth in Reverse” (I want to go faster, she chanted as the beats sped up). She finished the song on a wild solo (one of the few really wild improv moments she had) as the curtain closed on her.
About five minutes later the curtain reopened. Gone was the vampire and in its place was a video screen with Annie’s face getting larger and larger until she came back out on stage in a new outfit–a small silver dress.
And that was the signal that she was going to play the new album Masseduction straight through. The new album is good, but it’s quite different. It downplays her guitar skills somewhat and really highlights her singing. It also turns out that a lot of the albums’s sounds are made by her guitar with various effects on them.
In some ways it made sense to have her play to the beats and sampled backing vocals for this album. Unlike the older stuff there isn’t a lot of place for rocking out and improvising.
The backing video screen projected various images from the publicity for the new album. She stood center stage and sang and played. The backing music was very simple, primarily drums. Occasionally backing vocals (maybe sampled from her, maybe not) and synths came through.
“Pills” was particularly fun with her whisper-shouting the “pills” chorus under the backing vocals. And, “Massseduction” was also very cool, as she was using a guitar slide to make some really loud chords (I assume this guitar was tuned differently).
Some of the guitars seemed to glow in the dark, many of them just stood out in stark contrast to the surroundings. Sometimes the video screens displayed very large closeups of her face, it looked like she was watching herself play.
She introduced the grooving “Sugarboy” by dedicating the to all the girls. All the boys. And all the gender fluid people out there.
The terrific single “Los Ageless” sounded amazing. Then she sang the poignant “Happy Birthday, Johnny” (dedicated to all the Johns).
When I wondered about this tour earlier, I wondered if she’d be playing piano for “New York.” But, like with everything else, she sang to the backing music. Before the song, she came out close to the edge of the stage and sang a personalized Philly line:
Philly isn’t Philly without Wawa
And if I call you from Walnut Avenue
Where you’re the only motherfucker in the city
Who can handle me
Then she moved back to center stage to sing “New York” properly with that gorgeous chorus.
She played the remainder of the album. Earlier she mentioned that this was the Fear the Future tour, “But I think everybody in this room is making the future a better place.”
She ended with “Smoking Section.” The video screen showed an image of zooming through space as she sang that incredible high note.
And then the show was over.
For some reason I thought she did some encores, but nope. It was 10:30, the show was done.
So I had strangely mixed feeling about the show.
Annie herself was amazing. And she totally commanded the stage (and the audience). Her guitar playing was phenomenal and she a did a great job of keeping the show really interesting.
But the previous show was such an exciting spectacle that this one paled in comparison to her own work. I think if I hadn;t seen the previous show I woul dhave been blown away by this one.
The backing drums and such didn’t really hinder her in any way–it didn’t feel like the music wasn’t live, because she was clearly making most of it herself. But it did prevent her from really showing off her chops, which I love seeing. There was no room for improv or diversion.
Clearly that was part of the point too. The outfits were precise, everything was precise. This was all designed as such.
I guess I’m just a little surprised that with her new guitar (which she showed off quite nicely in almost every sing) she never really showed how great it would sound to just wail on it.
Setlists:
November 28, 2017 | July 25, 2015 |
Marry Me | Birth in Reverse (StV) |
Now, Now | Rattlesnake (StV) |
The Strangers | Cruel (Mercy) |
Actor Out of Work | Marrow (Actor) |
Cruel | Cheerleader (Mercy) |
Cheerleader | Prince Johnny (StV) |
Strange Mercy | Every Tear Disappears (StV) |
Digital Witness | Actor Out of Work (Actor) |
Rattlesnake | Surgeon (Mercy) |
Birth in Reverse | Regret (StV) |
Hang on Me | Digital Witness (StV) |
Pills | Huey Newton (StV) |
Masseduction | Bring me Your Loves (StV) |
Sugarboy | |
Los Ageless | |
Happy Birthday, Johnny | |
Savior | |
New York | |
Fear the Future | |
Young Lover | |
Dancing with a Ghost | |
Slow Disco | |
Smoking Section |
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