On March 23, Eventbrite put on “An Evening with Mitski.” It was set at a William and Mary theater and where she performed with just a guitar and her dreamy voice. I was already stoked to go and had a strong feeling it would be beautiful and amazing, but I was in for a surprise, as it tugged at my heartstrings in a way I was not fully prepared for.
When I walked into the theater, I was surprised at just how intimate the theater was, and I knew that I was about to have an experience. The opener, local to Richmond, Angelica Garcia, was AMAZING. Her voice was clear, loud and haunting. Her voice reminds me of a mash-up of the best of parts of Regina Spektor and Florence Welch’s voice and it had so much control. She spoke briefly about her experiences as a Latina woman and feeling unseen before singing a song that sent chills down my spine and started the waterworks for me. Her vocals always were spot on and she used her DJ pad to play an enchanting, unique, catchy and echoey set. When she announced that she works at Kuba Kuba, as a barista I was flabbergasted. She needs to be touring the world, not barista-ing! She is one I would watch out for.
After being introduced to the beauty of Angelica Garcia, Mitski came on the stage with just her guitar and an amp. Before she performed “I Will” she explained that she wrote the song when she needed to hear the words that make up the lyrics and said audience members may long to hear the words of encouragement too. This is when I promptly began semi-sobbing. You can read the full lyrics here to understand why.
She performed “I Bet on Losing Dogs,” “A Burning Hill,” “First Love / Late Spring,” “Your Best American Girl,” “Townie,” “Last Words of a Shooting Star” and other Mitski cult classics. Her clear voice and simple chords emphasized the messages of the songs and the crowd was in silent awe of her the whole time.
Her love of music is so true and genuine, and seeing her live cemented that to me even more. In her set, she encouraged the crowd to play instruments for themselves even if they aren’t good because it could spark joy. This resonated with me as I love music a lot and had lessons regularly as a kid, but tend to not play as much now because of the fear of not being good enough. When Mitski said this little speech, tears welled up in my eyes. Can you tell I’m emotional?
She ended with “Class of 2013” which is one of my personal favorite songs of hers. She belted into the soundhole of her guitar at the climax of the song, gave the crowd goosebumps and left us teary-eyed. She walked off stage humbly and my friends and I looked at each other in awe. Did we just witness that perfection?
I made a playlist of the songs mentioned so you can check out Mitski’s music and hear for yourself how great it is and possibly become a stan like me!