After many weeks of waiting, this past Friday night, I finally got to catch St. Vincent, the stage name of the lovely Annie Clark, live at The Crofoot in Pontiac (which seems to be the venue of every show I go to these days). There was a little stress in my decision because Kings of Convenience were also supposed to play the same night at the Crofoot, but due to some illness they postponed most of their tour, so the positive is that now I get to see them both. St. Vincent was originally scheduled to play the tiny Pike Room, then moved next door to the Eagle Theater, and eventually to the larger Crofoot, which was much needed as the place was pretty packed.

The opening act was the Swedish husband and wife duo of Mariam Wallentin and Andreas Werlin, better known as Wildbirds & Peacedrums. As soon as we noticed the steel drum on stage, we had a feeling we were in for something pretty unique. The group had a sound that was sometimes tropical, sometimes tribal, but with Mariam’s powerful vocals and Andreas’ powerful drumming, the group definitely captured the audience. The most memorable of their songs was the last one they played. But of course I have no idea what it’s called. I apologize for no pictures of the opening act. It was combination of my getting there a little late and not having the energy to try to get up close.

One of the more interesting parts of the night was the fantastic tunes being played before St. Vincent took the stage. A few songs I can remember are “I Would Die 4 U” and “Sexy M.F.” by Prince, and the final song, “Today was a Good Day” by Ice Cube. We’ll come back to this one a little bit later.

St. Vincent took the stage at what I think may have been around 10PM. She looked cute as ever in an all black outfit that was in stark contrast to her porcelain skin, which the lighting operator took full advantage of. I didn’t get the full setlist down, but the show started out with a few songs from “Actor”, “The Strangers”, “Save Me from What I Want” and “Laughing with a Mouth of Blood” before going into “Jesus Saves, I spend” (I may or may not have gotten that order exactly right). I always imagined St. Vincent to be mellow and a bit shy, so I was pleasantly surprised by the high energy performance she gave us last night. I also think there is a rule that to be in her band you must play at least 3 instruments. It was really great that we got to hear all of the woodwinds, brasses, keyboards and guitars that make “Actor” so special.

St. Vincent’s stage presence was vibrant and abundant and she had a few extended banter sessions with the crowd, thanking Sufjan Stevens after realizing herself singing “Saginaw! Saginaw!” on the drive from Chicago the night before. At one point, the band left the stage for a bit and Annie started explaining her reasoning for wanting to come out on stage to “Today Was a Good Day”. She explained, paraphrased of course, “It’s great that he really was having such a great day. I mean, he won at gambling, his car didn’t get stolen, and nobody got shot in south central LA. I think that really is a pretty great day, don’t you think?” Annie — just so you know, I’m single, and can play the clarinet, guitar and piano, so I think I’m a shoe-in if you need a fifth band member. Then she went straight into a stunning solo version of Nico’s “These Days”. This was perhaps my highlight of the show.

Nico – These Days

buy it on or amazon

After a few more songs with the full band, the show ended with a high-octane version of “My Lips are Red”, complete with a jam session at the end which found Clark on the ground creating noise with just her guitar pedals and her hands. I think it was at this point that I realized that Clark was a little more hardcore than I thought and which made my crush just a little stronger.

The band came back onstage but before they could begin, the crowd heard one of the more amusing drunken fan shoutouts. Typically, drunken fans yell things like “You are the best musician in the history of the universe!” or “You rock harder than anyone ever!” but this drunken fan kept his exaggerations in check, shouting out, “You are the greatest songwriter of the last…5 years!” I don’t know why I thought that was so hilarious, but it was. The show ended with “The Party”, a crowd favorite, and a great way to end the night.

St. Vincent – Marrow

buy it on or amazon

Word on the street is that Michael Cera was at the show, but I have yet to confirm whether or not he’s in town filming a movie, or if it was just the fact that a lot of the crowd happened to look like Michael Cera. And Annie, I personally would like to apologize for the tall dude who was standing directly in front of you the whole show taking pictures with a flash right in your face. Not cool, dude.

High quality versions of all pics below as well as a few more pics can be found on the dailybeatz Flickr page.