[ATTENDED: October 18, 2021] Torres
This was my third time seeing Torres. I had actually bought tickets for this show back in December of 2019. She was going to be touring the album Silver Tongue, which I never got. In a way I’m glad the show was pushed back to 2021, because her latest album Thirstier is outstanding.
Mackenzie Scott has fallen in love and Thirstier is a happy album. And Mackenzie is ripping it up on stage. She’s been wearing essentially workout clothes and she comes off stage covered in sweat.
Her band was amazing keyboard/synth player Erin Manning, was terrific even though I could never really see her from where I was. Bryan Bisorti rocked out the drums and J.R. Bohannon played pedal steel and matched her on lead guitar.
She talked about how happy she was to be back on tour. I know that the hiatus was tough on her (she was almost trapped in Europe when the lockdown happened).
The set was primarily songs from Thirstier. “Wishes” was a great opening song. But the whole show took off with “Sleepwalking” in which Bohannon and Mackenzie traded licks for a wonderfully cacophonous noise.
She jumped back to older albums, including two from Silver. Introducing “Dressing America,” she told us that it was based on an ex, and ex who had an article written about her in the New York Times with the same name.
Contrast that with the “intentionally horny and corny” “Thirstier.” which she said was the corniest song she’s ever written as a dedication to Scott’s fiancée artist Jenna Gribbon, who painted the covers of Silver Tongue and Thirstier. She talked about the depression that Gribbon helped pull her out of, and helped her to love herself more.
She told us that “Big Leap” was about her dad when he fell off a roof.
She ended the set with two songs from Sprinter. Mackenzie talked about how the song “Sprinter,” was written with youthful rage toward her Southern Baptist upbringing. She’s in a better place now and while the song retains its intensity, she has reframed the song with empathy and mercy for her family.
She ended the set with “Helen in the Woods,” an intense raging song in which she totally wailed and wailed on the floor. It was an amazing ending.
But she wasn’t done yet. All set there had been an acoustic guitar sitting on the stage. She told us that she had received the guitar earlier that day and she was playing it for the first time. She played a solo acoustic version of “Gracious Day.”
Mackenzie was psyched about having this show sold out and about touring and about her new relationship. And she let us all enjoy her happiness with a terrific, rocking show.
| 2021 Johnny Brenda’s | September 2017 Boot & Saddle | June 2017 Union Transfer |
| Don’t Go Puttin Wishes in My Head ∇ | Tongue Slap Your Brains Out ε | Skim ε |
| Are You Sleepwalking? ∇ | Skim ε | New Skin ⇒ |
| Constant Tomorrowland ∇ | Righteous Woman ε | Sprinter ⇒ |
| Cowboy Guilt ⇒ | New Skin ⇒ | Cowboy Guilt ⇒ |
| Good Scare § | Honey ⊕ | Three Futures ε |
| Dressing America § | Sprinter ⇒ | Strange Hellos ⇒ |
| Big Leap ∇ | Cowboy Guilt ⇒ | |
| Skim ε | Bad Baby Pie ε | |
| Hug from a Dinosaur ∇ | Three Futures ε | |
| Thirstier ∇ | Helen in the Woods ε | |
| Kiss the Corners ∇ | Marble Focus ε | |
| Hand in the Air ∇ | Concrete Ganesha ε | |
| Records of Your Tenderness § | incomplete list | |
| Three Futures ε | ||
| Sprinter ⇒ | ||
| New Skin ⇒ | ||
| Helen in the Woods ε | ||
| Gracious Day § (solo acoustic) |
∇ Thirstier (2021)
§ Silver Tongue (2020)
ε Three Futures (2017)
⇒ Sprinter (2015)
⊕ Torres (2013)
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