Sylvan Esso w/ Indigo de Souza at The Midland, Kansas City MO (2023-08-18)
- Alarm
- Ferris Wheel
- Train
- Dress
- Kick Jump Twist
- Die Young
- Didn’t Care
- H.S.K.T.
- Frequency
- How Did You Know
- Uncatena
- Numb
- Cloud Walker
- Sunburn
- Hey Mami
- Radio
- Coffee
- Echo Party
— Encore —
- Coming Back to You
- Make It Easy
- Time Back
- Darker Than Death
- Good Heart
- Parking Lot
- How I Get Myself Killed
- Always
- Not My Body
- Wasting Your Time
- You Can Be Mean
- The Water
- Smoke
- Real Pain
AUG 19 The Armory Minneapolis, MN *
AUG 22 Ogden Amphitheater Ogden, UT
AUG 24 McMenamins Edgefield Troutdale, OR *
AUG 25 Vogue Theatre Vancouver, Canada *
AUG 26 Thing Fest Port Townsend, WA
AUG 27 Hayden Homes Amphitheatre Bend, OR *
AUG 28 Cal Poly Humboldt, Duzer Theatre Arcata, CA
AUG 30 The Greek Theatre Berkeley, CA *
AUG 31 Greek Theatre Los Angeles, CA *
SEP 1 The Sound Del Mar, CA *
SEP 2 Pappy + Harriet’s Pioneertown, CA *
SEP 3 Pappy + Harriet’s Pioneertown, CA *
SEP 7 Brooklyn Bowl Las Vegas, NV *
SEP 8 The Van Buren Phoenix, AZ *
SEP 9 The Santa Fe Opera Santa Fe, NM *
SEP 10 Red Rocks Amphitheatre Morrison, CO *
SEP 11 The Mission Ballroom Denver, CO
SEP 13 The Jones Assembly Oklahoma City, OK
SEP 14 Stubb’s Waller Creek Amphitheater Austin, TX
SEP 15 Stubb’s Waller Creek Amphitheater Austin, TX
SEP 17 The Factory in Deep Ellum Dallas, TX
SEP 18 The Hall Little Rock, AR
SEP 19 The Fillmore New Orleans, LA
SEP 21 Marathon Music Works Nashville, TN
SEP 22 Coca-Cola Roxy Atlanta, GA
SEP 23 Greenfield Lake Amphitheater Wilmington, NC
SEP 27 The National Richmond, VA
SEP 28 Stage AE Pittsburgh, PA
SEP 30 MGM Music Hall at Fenway Boston, MA
NOV 19 Corona Capital Mexico City, MX
DEC 2 Wilco Sky Blue Sky Fest Puerto Aventuras, Mexico
DEC 3 Wilco’s Sky-Blue Sky Fest Puerto Aventuras, Quintana Roo
* = with Indigo de Souza
AUG 24 McMenamins Edgefield Amphitheater Troutdale, OR
AUG 25 Vogue Theatre Vancouver, BC
AUG 27 Hayden Homes Amphitheater Bend, OR
AUG 30 Greek Theatre at UC Berkeley Berkeley, CA
AUG 31 Greek Theatre Los Angeles, CA
SEP 1 The Sound at Del Mar Del Mar, CA
SEP 2 Pappy + Harriet’s Pioneertown, CA
SEP 3 Pappy + Harriet’s Pioneertown, CA
SEP 7 Brooklyn Bowl Las Vegas, NV
SEP 8 The Van Buren Phoenix, AZ
SEP 9 The Santa Fe Opera Santa Fe, NM
SEP 10 Red Rocks Amphitheatre Morrison, CO
JAN 7-10 Out of the Blue Festival Cancún, Mexico
North Carolina was all in the house at the crowded Midland Theater in downtown Kansas City- but what about that somewhat odd combination of a rising young singer-songwriter whose lyrical themes often revolve around mortality, pain, anxiety, and disappointments, and an electro-pop duo that mostly wants to expressively dance, and just have fun?
Turns out the pairing of Sylvan Esso and Indigo de Souza had more in common than only their NC respective bases (Durham and Asheville) and the 225 miles between them- they both provided an ideal soundtrack to enable a cathartic collective release for the audience- the urge to emotionally let go, move with the rhythm, and to expunge and forget any burdensome baggage, if only for a few hours.
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This was our third time witnessing the musical hurricane that is Indigo de Souza, in support of her third full-length, April’s All of This Will End (via Saddle Creek Records) complete with a cover art painting by her mother as usual, the warm colors belying its apocalyptic setting. Not only have the new songs exuded an artistic confidence, but in concert, de Souza, not known to speak much between songs anyway, very much let her music do much of the conversing, no longer shy and somewhat awkward on stage.
Despite some darkness, her set starting with the new “Time Back” added some optimism as de Souza sang, “When I come home, I will begin again” foreshadowing an emotional renewal and then she playfully dared a significant other in “Good Heart”- “I’m nothing but trouble, baby believe in me.” Her appearance even displayed an added assuredness- hair more tightly cropped and flowing pants in an earthy watermelon rind pattern, with de Souza also smiling more than we’ve seen previous.
The new “Not My Body” encouraged expression without any outside influences and a feeling of floating free in “The Water” meant just letting go, but the harsh reality of the themes in her older songs, “Smoke” and “Real Pain” that would end the set, confessionally proved that sometimes events don’t finish as expected, no matter what combination of blame can be assigned.
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For married indie electro-pop duo Sylvan Esso, their fourth full-length, last August’s No Rules Sandy (on Loma Vista Recordings, and a reference to beatmaker Nick Sandborn’s nickname) album meant a more personal and less polished approach to their indie-pop sound; and for the fans, the associated No Rules Tour meant even more of an opportunity to dance without abandon, encouraged by singer Amanda Meath’s own joyous and uninhibited movements.
We saw the band as an opener a decade ago when they first started out and couldn’t be more impressed at their ascending level of success, and ever-growing fan base. Beginning with the new “Alarm”, the set clocked in at less than ninety minutes, but it didn’t seem to matter as time itself seemed suspended in between the EDM throbs of shaking bass and keyboard rhythms, all meant for movement.
Meath soon took off her tailored coat, revealing a short and tightly strapped outfit, while the long-haired Sandborn bounced his head to the beats he was creating, surrounded by a set of flashing vertical light poles that synced with the beats per minute. Like the opener, the main act saved most of their “conversation” to be said with the songs, apart from the kind pleasantries of thanking the audience for coming.
2017’s “Kick Jump Twist” gave those dancers in the crowd some body directions, as did 2015’s “H.S.K.T” which found everyone re-visiting the childhood game of heads, shoulders, knees, and toes, but to a modern (and much faster) EDM beat.
“Sunburn” was our first overall taste of the new album, released as its first single, and elicited crowd yelps upon hearing the song’s first notes played live. From there, the pair turned the clock back that decade, to their very first single, 2013’s “Hey Mami” before winding up for the musical knockout punch of popular hits, “Radio” and “Coffee” …but then, something happened.
In the middle of 2016’s “Radio”, a keyboard sound suddenly dropped out, causing Meath to pause her dancing and Sandborn could only react with a puzzled shrug, before he quickly worked his wizardry to get the song back on course. By this point, Meath had left the stage and re-emerged in her over-sized, giant colorful fringed fluff ball of an outfit, and the crowd applauded even louder for the quick musical rebound by Sandborn to complete a favorite.
“It’s rare any more…we’ve been doing this for ten years”, he said following, “It’s rare for me to find a whole new way to F the show up– I found one here tonight!” as both had a laugh before carrying on to finish with the new album’s “Echo Party”.
The encore began on a completely different note, evidenced by a stagehand taping lyrics down to “Coming Back to You” from the new record, performed delicately and acoustic, with Meath confessing it was one of the very first times the song was performed live (we think St Louis the night before, was the very first).
From there, it was one last time to dance, with 2020’s “Make It Easy” and Meath musically asking, “Can’t you hear it, that loving sound? It’s playing now, it’s playing now…” and the crowd moving to the beat in agreement.
A chance to release and exhale- to confess, commonly relate with shared feelings, and maybe most importantly, to move without abandon, embarrassment, or judgment. That was the real meaning behind all the music from two seemingly different acts from the same state, but Sylvan Esso and Indigo de Souza found a way to bring it all together.
(Photos by Brandon Clasen; Click on any image to enlarge and see in full)
