St. Vincent w/ Holly Herndon at 9:30 Club on Saturday, March 1, 2014

Holly Herndon at 9:30 Club 3-1-14

St. Vincent at 9:30 Club 3-1-14

St. Vincent at 9:30 Club 3-1-14

I bought tickets for me and Eric the second this show went on sale, then it sold out before Jill could get hers. Fortunately, though, I found someone in line selling one ticket, so Jill rushed out to join us last minute, arriving just before the world's worst opening act - Holly Herndon. She did sub-woofer heavy, atmospheric, sound-experiment music that made all of us roll our eyes. It was unbearable bad. I think the cheering after was because she was finally leaving the stage. Still, I'm glad we arrived early. We had the most primo view in the club - at the railing, over the sound booth. By the time St. Vincent started, the club was absolutely packed.  I've never seen it so wall-to-wall.

There's a good reason she was such a hot ticket, though. The performance was incredible. More like performance art than a concert, though the musicianship was excellent throughout, and the instruments weren't hidden and there weren't any hired dancers or actors - only the 4 musicians on stage. St. Vincent wore a mini-dress that was designed to make her look like an abstract murder victim. She wore it with her platinum gray Einstein hairdo and 4 inch stiletto-heeled boots. Then she spent well over an hour moving like a robotic modern dancer, including climbing a tall 3-tier platform and writhing/rolling down it to her "death" during a stop-motion strobe effect. She never broke character once. The back up keyboardist/bassist and only other woman on stage also participated extensively in the choreography. It felt like powerful, articulate, impressive women were in charge of the stage and that the two guys on the sides were just the hired help.

Her "banter" moments were strange prose poems about unlikely things she felt in common with the audience, but were actually designed to surprise and delight the listener with the unexpectedness. Eric said her guitar playing looked like it was an extension of her heart, mind, and soul. (By that, he meant she's a virtuoso. The instrument is so completely a part of her that it's another voice for her to use to express herself.) Even the sound mixing was excellent.

My only complaint about the show was the heavy use of strobe lights. I find it very uncomfortable to look at strobe lights, especially when they are pointed at the audience.

DON'T miss this show when she comes back to town. It's incredible.