I Just Read About That…

[ATTENDED: October 11, 2021] St. Vincent

I have seen St. Vincent three times and each time was a totally different experience.

The first time was in 2015 at XPN Fest.  She was so good that I wanted to see her again on that tour (since her set was a little shorter due to the co-headline).  But she did not tour that album again.

In fact, when she toured again, it for Masseduction and that tour (in 2017) was radically different.

So here it is four years later and this tour was also radically different–and in no way even close to that first tour either.

I bought S. and I tickets but since I didn’t have a good handle on the seating areas of the Met, the seats sucked (practically the last row).  Luckily, the Met is pretty small, so even sucky seats aren’t bad.  The thing is though, that Annie Clark has so much going on, you want to be close to her when she does it.

For her new album, St. Vincent went away from the technology and sexiness of the previous two records and dove into a wholly retro experience.  It was quite a change (and, once again, really minimized her amazing guitar playing).

This concert was a theatrical spectacle.  The background was an excellent retro design of a city scape.  It didn’t change much, but dramatic lighting changed the look of the set in nearly every song–from day to night to midday to whatever else was going on.

The middle of the set was a raised stage with a concave mirror.  This stage rotated throughout the show so that whoever was on it was seen sometimes from multiple angles.  And of course it reflected various lights throughout.

The band came out and took their places. Justin Meldal-Johnsen (bass), Mark Guiliana (drums), and Rachel Eckroth (keys) were excellent and Jason Falkner on guitar was amazing.  As I said, Annie Clark is an amazing guitarist herself, so it was a little disappointing to see her have a lead guitarist.  But she had a different role to play in this set.

She came out in her seventies style outfit.  Which proved to be a ruse.  I read in a review that it wasn’t actually her in that outfit (there’s no way I could tell this from our seats).  But so when the stage revolved and she went behind the wall, the actual St. Vincent came out from the side of the stage.

I was pretty delighted that she played some songs from St. Vincent, but this show was all about Daddy’s Home. What was cool was that her new band, with her amazing backing singers, transformed every song.  These backing singers, Nayanna Holley, Sy Smith and Neka Hamilton were not shoved to the back  They were a part of the show, and for much of the show, their voices stole the show.

I was a little less impressed with the album of Daddy’s Home than I wanted to be, but these songs really shone live.  “Down” was amazing.

There were interludes sprinkled throughout the set.  Before “Daddy’s Home,” (which had a great ending, too) a server (who was the fake St. Vincent, I believe) brought drinks for the band.   After a lovely “New York,” there were toasts all around.

Later, after “…At the Holiday Party,” a “waitress” brought Annie an old-fashioned phone and she had a chat with a friend having a bad trip.  She agreed to meet him at the Wawa.

The single “Pay Your Way in Pain” sounded amazing–Annie’s voice is really a marvel.

“Los Ageless” was sleek and wonderful and then for “Sugarboy,” they changed the set to a wall of light rods.  The singers walked around with the rods.  I assumed they would eventually spell something (it seemed like the perfect set up for that) but they never did.

I really love the earlier St. Vincent albums, so I knew I’d be disappointed at not hearing much from them, but she did play “Marrow” and a great version of “Cheerleader.”

At one point, she played a great solo and just threw the guitar at the end of it–it was unclear if she was unhappy or if that was just part of the show.

The encore opened with a roaring version of “Your Lips Are Red,” one of the first songs of hers that I fell in love with.  I hadn’t seen her play it before, so this was a real treat.

The final two songs returned to the theatricality of the earlier set.  For “Live in the Dream” everyone walked around the stage in perfect slow motion.  It was really impressive and a little uncanny watching everyone so perfectly in synch.  But wow, that song seemed to really drag on, despite how cool it looked.  There was even, inexplicably, a drum solo at some point near the end.  Something probably no one really wanted, but it was pretty 70s.

They ended with “The Melting of the Sun” one of the best songs she’s released and it was a beautiful closing.

I would absolutely see this tour again if she redid it (which I doubt she will).

Amazingly Markit Aneight has a video of the whole show

October 11, 2021	November 28, 2017	July 25, 2015
Digital Witness Θ	Marry Me ϖϖ	Birth in Reverse Θ
Down ⇑	Now, Now ϖϖ	Rattlesnake Θ
Birth in Reverse Θ	The Strangers ∇	Cruel §
Daddy’s Home ⇑	Actor Out of Work ∇	Marrow ∇
Down and Out Downtown ⇑	Cruel §	Cheerleader §
New York ♥	Cheerleader §	Prince Johnny Θ
…At the Holiday Party ⇑	Strange Mercy §	Every Tear Disappears Θ
Los Ageless ♥	Digital Witness Θ	Actor Out of Work ∇
Sugarboy ♥	Rattlesnake Θ	Surgeon §
Marrow ∇	Birth in Reverse Θ	Regret Θ
Fast Slow Disco ♣	MASSEDUCTION SET	Digital Witness Θ
Pay Your Way in Pain ⇑	Hang on Me ♥	Huey Newton Θ
My Baby Wants a Baby	Pills ♥	Bring me Your Loves Θ
Cheerleader §	Masseduction ♥
Fear the Future ♥	Sugarboy ♥
Encore	Los Ageless ♥
Your Lips Are Red ϖϖ	Happy Birthday, Johnny ♥
Live in the Dream ⇑	Savior ♥
The Melting of the Sun ⇑	New York ♥
	Fear the Future ♥
	Young Lover ♥
	Dancing with a Ghost ♥
	Slow Disco ♥
	Smoking Section ♥

ϖϖ Marry Me (2007)
∇ Actor (2009)
§ Strange Mercy (2011)
Θ St. Vincent (2014)
♥ Masseduction (2017)
♣ Masseduction Rewired (2019)
⇑ Daddy’s Home (2021)