Nigel Ewan enjoys life.

Last night Ian and I went to see St. Vincent at the Newport. I hadn’t bought tickets ahead of time, which is really unusual, and I was a little worried that we’d have trouble managing. But everything went very smoothly: Ian drove and parked in an extremely convenient spot; we walked right up to the front of the Newport and bought tickets (and, free from Ticketmaster, undoubtedly saved a bunch of money); we stood in line on High Street and had pleasant conversation and watched the local color.

I really don’t like the Newport but for some reason I also have a sort of fondness for it. Nights like last night only serve to reinforce those feelings. It was gross and uncomfortably warm in there, and the crowd was made up of a bunch of annoying young people and people who looked like they were there for weird reasons. (So different from the Lambchop crowd, oh my!) Ian and I were about two rows back right in the middle of the stage. The Newport had put barriers up so the crowd was kept about three feet away from the edge of the stage; because of these things, the stage felt pretty far away! But overall it was a good spot. More on that later.

Shearwater was the opener. I really want to like Shearwater, because I really like Okkervil River so it seems like I should like Shearwater too. But the truth is they kinda get on my nerves. As openers go, they were quite good, but they weren’t my cup of tea. Too loud and too dramatic.

They took a long time setting up the stage for St. Vincent. By the time they were done, the stage was almost completely bare except for the drum kit (which was extremely giant and awesome), two synths, and a rack of four of Annie’s guitars. Oh, and a theremin in the front of the stage. That was exciting to see. Overall, the stage was atypically clear of stuff and it was very pleasant to look at. The most striking thing about the stage layout and organization was the lighting—I’ve never seen a show with such well-planned lighting. There were four or five big LED spotlights on the back curtain of the stage pointing out into the audience, which sometimes functioned as insane strobe lights. Sometimes just the center spotlight was turned on, and because it was pointing straight out into the audience, all we could see was Annie’s silhouette. There were also little spots at the front of the stage pointing up at Annie; whenever these were on, it made the stage feel very intimate and cozy. Using all these things in concert with the normal stage spotlights, the show had some really cool lighting effects. I am constantly amazed by the power that lighting can have over the emotional tenor of a performance.

The first song of the set was “Marrow”, which I thought was an unusual choice. From what I gather, the rest of the setlist was typical of this tour: there was a bunch of stuff from Actor and about half of Strange Mercy. During “Actor Out of Work” and “Surgeon” the strobes were on in full effect and I felt like I was going to puke or jump out of my body or something. During “Champagne Year”, the cozy fireplace-lights were turned on. Man, it was a cool show. Annie used the theremin during the instrumental break on “Northern Lights”, which was awesome.

And then there was the crowd-surfing, which I had completely forgotten to be expecting. The show was going on its merry way, and suddenly Annie has laid her guitar down and is swinging the mic around on its cord and she is climbing down the. The Newport’s security men kinda lifted her up over the little barrier, which she balanced on for a second before almost falling backwards and getting caught by the security men. Then she just dived into the crowd. All of this happened just exactly in front of where we were standing, which was super fun. She surfed all around on the crowd, but mostly stayed around near the front where we were. It was thoroughly terrifying and exhilarating. After all, Annie seems so petite and fragile. I’d like to think I helped keep her from falling once or twice—I suppose this is all the fun of crowd-surfing. Oh man, it was wild. And perfect. Nothing out of the ordinary for a St. Vincent show, but a very unique and special experience for me.

For the encore, the band played “Your Lips Are Red”—the only song from Marry Me in the whole show. It was a perfect ending to a spectacular show. Come back soon, Annie.