The night kicked off with a groovy performance by Theophilus London. From his rose-covered microphones to his MJ moonwalk, London brought a perfect amount of funky flavor to prep the crowd for the much-anticipated Santigold act.
Around 10:30 the crowd erupted as Santigold’s two back-up dancers stood still with their backs to the crowd on the right side of the stage, and the intro to “GO!” began to play. Santigold came storming through the two dancers and delivered a fully energized performance from the first song to the last. Despite that half way through the set she admitted to being under the weather! After “GO!” she played a couple of staples from the last album Santogold such as “L.E.S. Artistes” and “Lights Out” that had the crowd singing along with her word for word.
She then moved on to the more intense and slower songs on Master of My Make- Believe like “Pirate in the Water” and “Disparate Youth.”
Again, though, from start to finish the show was full of energy and spunk. Even during a brief wardrobe change by Santigold, a felt horse danced on stage with her back-up dancers, keeping the crowd engaged. Towards the end of the set Santigold selected whom she thought were the best 20 dancers in the crowd and pulled them up on stage. I ended up getting on stage with my camera, which was an event in itself, but she could not have been more generous to the fans. She made it clear that she wanted to celebrate this breakthrough album with her fans, thus demonstrating her great appreciation for their devotion.
Overall, it was an amazing performance by Santigold and Theophilus London.
-Grace Donnelly
Photo Credit: Grace Donnelly
