St. Vincent at Vivid Sydney; supplied
This is the second time St. Vincent has played for Vivid Festival, fitting because like the festival, she’s pretty hard to define. Primarily a musician, she delves into film and visual arts, and anyone who has seen her perform will find it hard to seperate her costumes and theatricality from the music. And, why would you want to?
St. Vincent is a perfect by-product of the digital age, where we can have anything, all the time, on demand. In a world without limitations, an artist like St. Vincent was guaranteed to happen. What wasn’t guaranteed was that she would be this good. Interdisciplinary pastiche is not an easy thing to pull off, but St. Vincent lands it with equal parts integrity and irony.
The show comprised of two parts – the first part was a retrospective of 10 tracks from her first four records. Perhaps that is why the first half seemed a little disjointed. Most of her records run like complete narratives, so cherry-picking a few songs from each record is a bit contextless. Not that anyone could complain about powerhouse hits like ‘Cheerleader’ and ‘Birth in Reverse’ considering a live performer of St. Vincent’s calibre. She is one of those special artists who, performance theatricality aside, manages to sound better live than on recording.
Even so, she was taking it easy in the first set (well, as easy as one can take it in stillettos), with a paired back version of ‘Strange Mercy’ (that might have been a result of kinks in the sound set up) and a slightly more lacklustre version of ‘Digital Witness’ than I am used to (although, for that I blame the lacklustre audience who, even after a call to dance, still remained cemented to the floor).
Carriageworks’ staging was also less than ideal. Sight lines were very limited in the long and narrow space, and additional screens were lacking. This kind of venue works for a decent dance floor but lets face it – Sydney don’t dance so you’re better off putting this kind of capacity in the Opera House.
Admittedly, early on in the set I was wondering if I was missing a full backing band. It didn’t take long for those thoughts to be corrected – St. Vincent can carry a 500-strong audience on the voice alone, and the guitar is a hell of a bonus. Towards the end of the set we heard glimpses of what was to come, with an exhilarating guitar solo on ‘Birth in Reverse’, the last track before intermission.
After a speedy costume change involving longer skirt and shorter boots, St. Vincent returns to a pop-art-inspired backdrop with ‘Hang On Me’, and it soon becomes clear that she will play her latest album Masseduction in full. This is where it all came together. She revels in the cartoony guitar solo in ‘Pills’. This version of ‘Sugarboy’ is a treat, with the synth being replaced by the best guitar solo of the night. Funky ‘Los Ageless’ picks us up while ‘Happy Birthday Johnny’ actually elicits a tear from my eye.
St. Vincent laments Sydney’s lack of avenues before launching into ‘New York’. Some fancy visuals have her travelling at warp speed during ‘Young Lover’. Soulful guitars replace cello in ‘Slow Disco’. Then, in typical contrary style, she draws the show to an end with the catch cry ‘Its not the end’ on ‘Smoking Section’.
Despite having much respect for her music, in truth, St. Vincent has never quite managed to move me. There’s a little polite separation in the music and in person, she is funny and smart enough to evade the most intimate questions in a charming way. I get the feeling something is held back and that has always been a little disengaging for me.
That all changed in this concert. Annie Oklahoma is an artist who gives away more of herself on stage than in the studio, and that’s well worth schlepping out on a cold winters night for.
Rating: ★★★★
St. Vincent
Vivid Sydney at Carriageworks
17 June 2018
