Going to a Mitski show in 2024 comes with a lot of baggage. A few weeks before her arrival in New York City, a friend cautioned me to expect a “All of this was on my mind when I arrived at the Beacon Theatre on Feb. 21 for the first of Mitski’s six NYC shows , expecting to be met with a circus of children and rowdy teenagers. Inside, a nearly full auditorium buzzed as smooth jazz filtered over the loudspeakers.
The crowd screeched at her backlit silhouette as she entered in a red shroud during a folk-ified rendition of her opening number “Everyone.” A man seated in front of me half-heartedly shouted, “I love you” during “Last Words Of A Shooting Star” . The worst it ever got was someone on the orchestra level yelling “Hydrate!” whenever Mitski would turn to have a sip of water. After the third time, a tangible irritation bristled through the audience; there wasn’t a fourth.
To be fair, Mitski’s shows have always had problems with crowds — to the point where stories about audience behavior often superseded her performances. On her 2022tour, the big problem was phones — namely, that there were too many concertgoers recording full songs or the entirety of her performances.
At the Beacon, Mitski, professional as ever, rolled with the punches and seemed utterly unfazed, sticking to her meticulously choreographed performance and being chattier than ever. Her first address to the audience carried the sly agenda of acknowledging the elephant in the room. “Well here I am. I have a whole bunch of teenagers’ attention. I feel like I should offer wise words,” she said, before following with an off-the-cuff monologue about the inevitability of death.
In this age of direct-to-TikTok concert viewing and heightened audience policing, it feels like maybe we’ve lost the plot, focusing too much on the sidelines and not enough on what’s happening on stage — of which there’s plenty to be discussed: Mitski careening on the edge of a chair during “First Love/Late Spring;” singing under an umbrella of glittering glass shards for “My Love Mine all Mine;” barking like a dog for “I Bet On Losing Dogs;” waltzing with the halo of a spotlight during “Heaven.
Entertainment Entertainment Latest News, Entertainment Entertainment Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Source: PasteMagazine - 🏆 392. / 55 Read more »
Source: Jezebel - 🏆 153. / 63 Read more »
Source: auto123 - 🏆 566. / 51 Read more »
Source: CARmagazine - 🏆 382. / 55 Read more »
Source: washingtonian - 🏆 74. / 68 Read more »