Annie Clark, known professionally as St. Vincent, took the stage at the Michigan Theater in Ann Arbor. Known for her talent on guitar, St. Vincent is an indie, pop-rock phenomenon. On Sept. 16, St. Vincent visited Ann Arbor for the first time.
“It is a delightful town,” St. Vincent said.
Struck by the college-centric culture of the town, St. Vincent found Ann Arbor charming. She had spent time before the concert exploring, walking the diag and ducking into stores. Although, she was dispirited by the lack of home decor in the State St. Target store.
“I have some notes,” St. Vincent said. “That is not the Target I have come to know and love from Dallas, Texas. Where was the Hearth and Hand? Where were the home goods? Is it because this is a college city? It’s a fake Target! And finally, somebody has the bravery to get up here and say it!”
St. Vincent is highly in touch with her fan base: A primarily middle-aged audience adorned in outfits somewhere between Renaissance fair attire, goth and Coachella styles, who reveled in her understanding of their desperation for a quality Target.
St. Vincent was enamored by her privilege to be in a position where she gets to travel and perform. She took time to contemplate existentialism while absorbing the Ann Arbor experience.
“We walked around, we sat on the quad, we talked about Kierkegaard, you know, as you do, as a youth,” St. Vincent said. “And it struck me as I was walking around; I was like, ‘This f***in’ rips’. No, no, no, just hear me out. It’s so f***in’ lucky, so lucky, to get to do a job where you come and you get to see beautiful people, hanging out, choosing to spend their time with you, instead of all the myriad things they could be doing.”
While St. Vincent found Ann Arbor to be a departure from her Texan roots, the opening act was Dorian Electra, a fellow Texan known for their experimental electronic sounds as well as their distinctive aesthetic. Electra performed with two dancers to execute tight and somewhat provocative choreography.
Unfortunately, Electra did not have live musicians. This degraded the audience’s level of entertainment, however, Electra’s voice was laced with a clarity not captured in their recordings.
St. Vincent, on the other hand, came with her band, which showed up for the moment. The band featured Jason Falkner on guitar, Rachel Eckroth on vocals and keyboard, Mark Guiliana on drums, and Charlotte Kemp Muhl on bass guitar, while St. Vincent graced the audience with her voice, guitar playing and dancing.
The group performed hits like “Los Ageless” and “New York.” The act was well coordinated and electric. St. Vincent made her mark on Ann Arbor and the souls of her audience unapologetically, backlit under an arch and with a prowess only known to the Rolling Stone named 26th-greatest guitarist of all time.
