6th November 2023
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Last May I had the privilege of seeing one of my favourite artists, Mitski, live in Manchester. A friend had dropped out last minute and I was given an hour to get home from uni, cook dinner and go. Most of the following article was written over the next few days, before the summer holidays put it on ice for a while. That is, until now.
I scramble into the gig just in time to see the opening acts come on. I was not going to turn down a last-minute invitation to see Mitski live, even if it did mean speedily dashing through Manchester to the 02 Apollo. As the lights descend and the impatient crowd noise rises to a roar, Mitski Miyawaki and her band slink onto the stage.
The early portion of the set was characterised by a number of changes, which served to represent the dynamic and multi-edged nature of the show as a whole. Two songs from her most recent album, The Land is Inhospitable and So Are We greeted the audience with an atmosphere previously unheard of at a Mitski show.
Country-inspired pastoral themes were displayed through the use of a pedal steel and a hazily strummed acoustic guitar, serving to create an easy sway of melancholy, perfectly befitting the late spring night.
Two numbers off her 2022 album, Laurel Hell, soon followed this. Valentine, Texas and Working for the Knife bore a sultry, 80’s inspired swagger, the former of which soon exploding midway through into a chaotic frenzy.
This is undoubtedly where the performative aspects of the show first reveal their full extent.
Mitski’s performance is like a swiss-army knife – not limiting herself to solely her music as some bands do, crucial attention is paid to multiple features of her show. The lighting, stage design and Mitski’s own on-stage dancing blend to create an artistic, near-cinematic performance.
During the previously mentioned Valentine, Texas, a gentle red spotlight followed our performer before the ceilings lights exploded into a rapture, adding to the powerful boom that bellowed from the drums.
A highlight of the performance was certainly the artistic use of stage design. From the very opening track, where Miyawaki’s silhouette was painted on an enormous curtain which soon fell in time with the song’s final note, it seemed like every detail of the show had been carefully rendered to create a stylised and aesthetically structured performance.
The show soon rolled on as the setlist became increasingly diverse. A number of tracks from previous albums, with the notable fan favourite First Love/Late Spring garnering an expected yet much deserved roar of approval from the audience. Heaven, a track from her most recent album soon followed and reaffirmed the easy sway of others from the album.
Next to take its place at the start line was an unexpected rockabilly version of I Don’t Smoke. Here, the original recording’s ferocious electric guitar was swapped out for a more mild mannered double bass and violin combination. Mitski’s ability to adjust her songs to conjure a specific atmosphere is perhaps this show’s greatest gift, displayed by no song better than this. While this live version was a departure from the sound many were expecting, it still contained the heart and soul of the original, albeit in an altered format.
By making alterations to many of her popular tracks that have become mainstays in her setlist over the years, Mitski avoids one of the most common issues that any live act eventually faces over time; falling victim to the ‘run-through’.
By simply performing all of their hits, one after the other, many bands fail to create a sense of uniqueness or originality through the performance. While it is a mark of a band that have mastered their own sound, by doing so there lacks any novel experience to the individual gig. As the saying goes, ‘If you’ve seen it once, you’ve seen it a thousand times’. Mitski has mastered this though; by adventuring into unknown terrain and adjusting songs as she sees fit, each show feels as though its own entity. Seeing a band or live act at a certain point in their career should be reflective of their evolution as artists and an indication of where they might be headed in the future. The best bands are those that change over time, being continuously influenced by differing genres of music to create a richer and more expansive sound.
Anyway, back to the music.
Pink in the Night, played towards the end was perhaps one of the most impressive tracks played. Featuring a series of cymbal crashes and a notably elegant ambience created by the expert work from the keys. A solitary pound of the kick drum acted as a heartbeat, empowering the song onward as it reached heights unexpected from the song’s humble beginnings, before fading out once again into the night.
The encore presented perhaps the only expected moment of the evening. After assuring that she would indeed return at the end of the main set, the big hitters then came out. Powerful and energetic, the two songs played in the encore, Nobody and Washing Machine Heart injected some serious pace back into the set. A climactic finish to what had been an education on what a gig should look like.
Mitski and her band are a fresh, sonically innovative unit that kept the crowd going all night without falling victim to being a bit ‘same old, same old’. I’d jump at the chance to see them again and would highly recommend you do too.
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All images belong to Lewis Webb
