Photo Gallery: St. Vincent at Metro • Chicago
St. Vincent
Metro
Chicago, IL
September 18th, 2024
Recap and photos by Curt Baran
Chicago’s most venerable music venue, Metro, has hosted countless bands who have delivered legendary performances. Last night, it felt like they’d added another chapter to their history book. Before her performance at Riot Fest this weekend, St. Vincent (Annie Clark) delivered the ultimate undersell, playing the 900-capacity club and utterly decimating everything in her path. Her latest release, All Born Screaming, is her most straightforward album at some time, trading in aesthetic and character ownership for naked, unadorned songwriting.
The intimate space made new songs like “Broken Man,” “Flea,” “Hell Is Near,” and the album’s title track absolutely combustible, with both band and audience feeding off of each other. Also making a welcomed return were guitar solos! Clark had toned down her remarkable playing talents on her recent, more conceptual records. Within the framework of her newest compositions, she seemed completely unhinged, showing both disciplined restraint and absolute fury, sometimes within the span of the same phrase.
With the physical space between the performer and attendee already close, given the compressed splendor of Metro, when the Fourth Wall finally collapsed, and Clark found herself being passed over the heads of audience members, the moment never felt theatrical, merely inevitable
Category: Featured
