St. Vincent brings down the house
St. Vincent brought her “All Born Screaming” tour to Manila last week, the artist’s first time to perform in the country, and boy did audiences find out what they were missing. With a formidable touring band, a set list of gems, and all the energy and chutzpah gathered from being the last stop on this leg of the tour, St. Vincent (née Annie Clark) brought the house down.
First real look
Backlit by a single spotlight, our first real look at St. Vincent is in silhouette, standing still, as she opens the show with “Reckless,” accompanied only by an organ, throaty voice rising to a cry before the song explodes with the full band and lights blazing on, and there she is: semi-vampiric in an all-black ensemble, bra in blazer, shorts with stockings, heeled boots, and elbow-length gloves that she’ll doff soon enough to be able to play guitar. She screams at/with the crowd in greeting, crouching down to get as close as she can without falling off the stage, the audience meeting her energy. So begins a crackerjack show that includes face-melting guitar solos, metalhead-worthy bangers, and intimate numbers that have the venue so quiet you might notice your own pulse.
Seven albums
With seven albums under her belt (eight if you count her collab with David Byrne), there was no shortage of eagerly-awaited songs by the diehards in the crowd; it shouldn’t surprise when they chant in unison to “Los Ageless” chorus, “How can anybody have you? / How can anybody have you and lose you? / How can anybody have you and lose you / And not lose their minds, too?” but hearing people sing along to first-album cut “Marrow”? Ah, there you know you’ve got the faithful.
Through it all, it never fails to be striking how confident and assured St. Vincent is now as a performer. And not just in her much-acclaimed guitar-playing or her amazing voice that can go from raspy plea to banshee’s wail, but in her stage presence; her charisma and hold over the audience is never in question. A couple of the songs, she would be very still and adopt poses that recalled statues of religious figures, in her outstretched or raised arms, or particular hand poses and tilts of the head. Other times she would be like a restless cat prowling the stage. She can be playfully sexy and coquettish, then loopy, then seductive, then sinister. She’ll perform lying down or leaning on a bandmate, teetering over the audience or even in it, as she crowdsurfed twice. She’ll zero in on a girl singing along, saying “I see you” but also be sympathetic when that same fan fumbles. “That’s okay, honey, I forget the lyrics too sometimes.”
Touring band
Her touring band is its own force to be reckoned with. Organist Rachel Eckroth a solid foundation, the only one on basically every song; bassist/model Charlotte Kemp Muhl, who with partner Sean Lennon make up The Ghost of a Saber Tooth Tiger; drummer Mark Guiliana, who has several albums of his own and played on David Bowie’s final album, “Blackstar”; and Jason Falkner, who is Beck’s usual touring guitarist but has his own solo career as well (check out his debut “Presents Author Unknown,” an underrated piece of ’90s indie rock goodness).
It is clear that Clark loves her band; she is often playful with them, shredding solos with Falkner, engaging in role play with Muhl as the latter “controls” her. Guiliana got a showcase with a blistering drum solo that had the crowd eating it up. At one point, when they weren’t needed, Falkner and Muhl sat together by Eckroth’s organ and watched Clark, beaming like parents. Clark, who at times seemed like a cult leader, also exuded such raw vulnerability during the encore, a performance of “Somebody Like Me” off of her 2021 album “Daddy’s Home.”
Even if the show started late, and there were four fewer songs than the last stop, St. Vincent and company delivered a stellar show, a great start for 2025 and Karpos’ year of gigs. At the end of the show, as people were filing out, cartoonist/illustrator/yoga teacher Apol Sta. Maria remarked, “Parang nagsimba ako” (“It’s like I’ve gone to church”).
Amen.
