Lizzo and Caroline Smith at First Avenue, Minneapolis (27 Sep 2014)

It was a typical grrrl prty with Lizzo and Caroline Smith at First Avenue last night, as they unite to celebrate women power.

Co-sponsored by The Women’s Foundation of Minnesota, 89.3 The Current, and Radio K, Saturday’s show was quickly sold out, so they stepped in and added another show on Friday. Unlike the Friday show, Saturday’s show started much later than originally scheduled (Lizzo & Caroline set time were listed at 9:15pm, but in fact they started after 10pm).

 

 

The party started with Grrrl Prty presents Tawst, which were two DJs, Shannon Blowtorch and Sophia Eris, from Grrrl Prty. The two kept the floor moving, as they live mix (and sometime Eris would sing over) their favorite dance hits, from Whitney Houston’s “I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)” to Mystikal’s “Shake ya Ass” to Lauryn Hill’s “Doo-Wop (That Thing)” … but they seem to have a thing for House of Pain, as they used “Jump” in the beginning and near the end of their nearly hour-long set.

The Caroline Smith and Lizzo tag team is interesting, only because they are from two different music genre: Lizzo in the alternative hip hop and DJ scene with bands like The Chalice and Grrrl Prty, while Smith was originally from the folk/Americana scene, then pivot to more of a neo-soul sound. The extra long show proved that the two music genre can co-exist, and, yes, can seamlessly flow from one performer to another.

With that said, the two stormed out strong with their new single, “Let ‘Em Say”, and then Smith faded in the background as Lizzo took charge of her songs and vice versa on Smiths-lead songs. The way the two wrote the setlist, each singer had their moment in the spotlight and it made for a nice flow.

The only thing consistent was that the band, The Good Night Sleeps (complete with soul backup singers and a live DJ/keys), remained on stage throughout the two hour set (!) and playing backup music to all the songs live – except for the rare exception of being ‘kick off the stage’ after “F**** A*****” and then leaving the stage and returning for the encore.

Interestingly enough, Lizzo covered Salt-n-Pepa’s song “Push It”, however it sounded much different live, so different that I wouldn’t even call it a cover (the key rift was not played and it was stripped down to just the “Oooh baby baby” part with some of the rap part). The other Lizzo highlight was her ability to play a flute as the intro to “Bloodline”.

Not a surprise, but Grrrl Prty joined Lizzo and Smith on stage for a couple of songs, and of course, during the encore…. however when Lizzo and Caroline Smith (and the rest of Grrrl Prty) took off their clothes and started dancing in their underwear on stage after “Magazine”, that was an interesting surprise! Sorry fellas, I didn’t snap any pictures out of respect for the ladies; you just had to be there.

Who knows when the next Lizzo and Caroline Smith show will be, with Lizzo heading out on tour to the UK, but the next time these two get together – you should be there for the grrrl prty. Lizzo and Caroline’s single “Let ‘Em Say” is out now and proceeds benefits the Women’s Foundation of Minnesota.