The lights drop, the bass thumps, and on stage a black shadowy figure appears, all of a sudden the lights shoot up and there stands St. Vincent in all her glory ready to perform and say hello to her hundreds of fans. Although, the concert didn’t begin with a bang, but instead started off as a slow and treacherous escapade, I don’t regret any of the events that occurred.

One of the few events that made this concert different from other concerts is that the opening act did exactly the opposite of what their title entails, to not open for the main performer. Noveller, this show’s opening act, went on late, after all of us had situated ourselves in the proper positions best to catch a glimpse of Annie Clark. It would not have been that bad considering that we had all been listening to droning electronic music for the last hour and a half of this concert. The music was on constant repeat and at one point all the songs that were playing began to blur together; blood was beginning to get a little hot at this point. Not to bash Noveller or anything, but it when you keep an audience waiting for almost two hours for a random act that none of us really know, it makes tensions rise. What pained me the most was not only was Noveller a really great performer, but the attention span that most of had at the time was close to zero. When an artist that you have no idea who they are comes onto stage to play ambient music, you begin to question life. Questions like “You’ve got to be kidding me!?” or “When will this end?” began to fill the minds of not only myself but as well as the vocal people around me.

After Noveller could see our disappointment in the fact that she herself was a) not Annie Clark and b) killing the mood of the show, she graciously stepped off stage in order to let the audience mentally prepare themselves for Annie Clark. This was also unfortunate as well because the moment Noveller stepped off stage; the droning electronic music began again. This music that all again reminded us all of the treacherous almost two hour wait we had just to see one opening act. I knew once that music began again that there would be some sort of wait to see Annie Clark and it took all that I had to really hope that there was some sort of being out there that would not let us all wait another 2 hours just to see St. Vincent perform.

After about 45 minutes the lights dropped and there stood Annie in her tattered flesh colored and red dress that looked like something out of this world. Not only did it look like Annie Clark may have made this dress, but the colors and make up of her whole ensemble really intrigued the crowd to just stare in aware of this beautiful strangely-dressed woman. As she stood there staring out into the crowd of hundreds hungry for the attention of Annie Clark, she took no time to just jump right into her performance with the song “Rattlesnake” off her new self-titled album. Not only did she introduce her stage presence with booming songs like “Rattlesnake,” but she also introduced her adoring fans to cutesy robotic dance moves that only Annie herself could possibly come up with. Forward and back or left and right, Annie would scoot herself back and forth across the stage along with her guitarist and some cool production techniques that perfectly showcased Annie Clark in all her glory.

After a few songs and some more interesting dance moves Annie stopped her set to talk to the audience. She did this a total of three times during the whole performance. This aspect of the show was really interesting because she would talk to the crowd as if it were a normal conversation with a really good friend. She brought up topics of which people were as well as how we were all connected in the bigger scheme called life. I think the most interesting part as well was that she really tried to connect with those in the audience, not only with her little analogies but with her glances and mannerisms. In the crowd no matter where you stood it seemed like Annie was looking at you and talking to only you. It was an intimate feeling considering how big the Majestic Theater is in actuality.

Most of the performance was based on her newest self-titled album, which is reasonable considering that most artists tour in order to promote their newest material. Even with this aspect Annie Clark in her guitarist ways had the ability to add this brilliant guitar riffs and slides that made the crowd go wild. Although Annie Clark basically exhausted her new album to its entirety she made sure to let her fans not forget about the transition of Annie Clark into St. Vincent over the years. Songs from her past albums like Cruel, Cheerleader, Surgeon, and others were performed so effortlessly that it stunned the crowd. Every guitar solo as well as every note was perfectly hit as if performing on stage was second nature.

As soon she finished the set, Annie Clark abruptly ran off stage to give the allusion that the show was over. No one dared to move considering that we all had to believe that Annie Clark had another little something up her sleeves. Luckily, this wait for the encore aspect of the show was the quickest transition ever, Annie bounced right back on stage in a whole new black geometric get-up. This time the set was a little different; her music was originating from her older albums and set the true fans from the ones that were on the outside only appreciative of her latest album. After playing songs like “Your Lips are Red,” “Marrow,” and “Strange Mercy,” St. Vincent took her final bow as well as her fellow accompanying band members and ended her show with a final look and smile into the crowd. With that she exited off stage leaving all of us stunned considering we had all endured the fabulous presence of Annie Clark.

Written by Sami Leonardo
Image Credit: live105.cbslocal.com