St Vincent (or more accurately Annie Clark) is not a woman who you can easily categorise - You never know what she will do next.
With every album there's a new style/image and sometimes the shift is quite dramatic.
I'd seen her before, on the Daddy's Home tour, where the style was quite 70s and mellow.
They had been at Glastonbury the day before this gig, so I had an idea that this was going to be a hard-rock St Vincent and so it proved to be.
I arrived just before 8 to see one of two support acts just finishing, but I saw so little of their performance I can't really comment on it.
About 8:30, the expected support act, Cult oF Venus, arrived. This is just one woman with a flowing grey gown (a bit like a wraith!), long blonde hair and a box of electrics (which reminded me of the support act for Nouvelle Vague) although she also had an electric guitar.
Her sound was predominantly electronic and she was quite enjoyable, albeit rather etherial and the vocals were a bit lost in the mix (a near universal flaw with support acts!).
Some of the songs were quite melodic and she seemed to have a great voice, but then she'd tweak something on the box and there would be a discordant jar in the music - Odd, but interesting.
She got a good reception and deserved the loud applause when she finished.
We then had a prolonged wait for St Vincent, to the point at which people started slow clapping and whistling no doubt prompted by the fact that it was getting very hot in the venue, despite effective air con, but when the band did appear, at 9:30, that was quickly forgotten.
The tour was in support of the most recent album, All Born Screaming, so obviously we got a number of tracks from that, including the opener, Reckless.
This set the tone, Annie, wearing a grey jacket and shorts, over tights, with shoulder length black hair (rather than the odd blonde wig(?) of the previous tour) and her guitarist played with lots of thrashing and distortion, not heavy metal, but certainly on the loud end of rock.
"Fear the Future" (From her 'Masseduction' album) followed and then, possibly her best known song, "Los Ageless" (a great song and undoubtedly my favourite of hers) from the same album.
The stage looked bigger than I recall it from previous (many) visits to 'The Academy' (it was a nightclub of that name in my late teens/early twenties, so I've known it for many years), with a drummer to the rear right and a keyboardist to the left, and the guitarist and bass guitarist flanking Annie.
We then got another track from the latest album, "Broken Man" and then "Dilettante" during which she forgot to the lyrics and sang/spoke them for a verse, before the band joined in again for the rest of the song.
Another old favourite, "Birth in Reverse" and then "Pay Your Way in Pain", followed by "Flea" and "Big Time Nothing" from the latest album, sandwiching "Cheerleader".
At some point, I forget exactly when, Annie attempted to crowdsurf over the audience, but it seemed those in the front misunderstood her intention and they let her crash to the floor! She seemed ok, although jokingly pretended to have injured her back later on ("At least you have the NHS here").
She seemed pretty relaxed and convivial between tracks, probably talking more than most would have liked (perhaps we could have had another song or two), but it did make her seem a likeable performer, although in one manic moment, she hurled a cymbal stand from the drumkit into the crowd (this was more deftly handled than her, though, being caught by a couple of people before it could make substantial contact), so perhaps she was still a bit miffed about them dropping her!
"Marrow" from an earlier album, "Actor" followed and then "Violent Times" from the new album, which was a bit of a variation in tempo from the rest of the gig and excellent.
Another popular track, "New York" followed and then we had "Sugarboy" and a dramatic finale rendition of "All Born Screaming", the title track from the tour album.
By now we were close to the 11 O'clock curfew, but they came back for one more song, a stripped back "Candy Darling", demonstrating Annie's excellent singing voice after the loud and brash performance of most of the gig, although it had been apparent on some tracks.
Overall, the gig was, I expected, totally different to the last time I saw them. Noisy, thrashy, distorted guitars, even on the older tracks, but it was exciting and energy packed.
As on my first visit to see her, I'd worried that I may not like the performance after the Glastonbury coverage, but again, live, in a small venue, they were great and I'd happily go and see her a third time, if only to see the direction she takes next.
Definitely an imaginative, talented, artistic performer, but one who can put on a show that leaves you energised, entertained and excited.
Brilliant stuff from her and the band.
#stvincent
Setlist:
Reckless
Fear the Future
Los Ageless
Broken Man
Dilettante(Forgot lyrics of second verse)
Birth in Reverse
Pay Your Way in Pain
Flea
Cheerleader
Big Time Nothing
Marrow
Violent Times
New York
Sugarboy
All Born Screaming
Encore:
Candy Darling
