On what is hopefully the last freezing night in Boston for the winter, Madi Diaz stops by The Sinclair on February 29th while touring her new album, Weird Faith. The audience possesses a wide age range, with a few members dressed in nods to Harry Styles after Diaz’s involvement in Styles’ beloved Love Band last year. To open the show, Olivia Barton enters the stage to perform a welcoming acoustic set where she frequently interacts with the eager crowd and even brings out Diaz to play a song they wrote together.
After a brief shift in stage arrangement, the lights dim and Cass Elliot’s “Make Your Own Kind of Music” begins to blast through the speakers. Drummer Adam Popick and Diaz casually take the stage, almost hidden by the vibrant blue light that lit up the stage for the whole show. She takes her place atop a small rug that looks like grass, which aligns well with the fairy lights draped on the amps like waterfalls. After getting settled, Diaz begins her set with “Same Risk,” the first track off of her new LP.
The song starts with bass-heavy drums and Diaz playing the guitar with a grainy effect. Popick’s use of bass drum mallets provides the drums with a softer sound needed to pair well with Diaz’s guitar and vocals. She follows with “Everything Almost,” where Diaz puts her impressive vocals on full display, and Popick meets her intensity with increased use of cymbals. The crowd cheers loudly at the song’s end, likely expressing appreciation for her vocal abilities. “Holy shit! I cannot believe you Boston,” says Diaz in response to the enthusiastic crowd.
“Woman In My Heart” features a slow, plucked guitar line to start. Diaz continues to emit belts that leave the audience in awe. Her powerful vocals emulate the intense breakup emotions that the lyrics describe. Popick and Diaz come together for the chorus to produce an immense, distorted sound that also matches the lyrical content.
Diaz transitions to “Don’t Do Me Good,” which features Kacey Musgraves on the album. Towards the end of the track, Diaz exits the bridge by increasing her vocal volume with each repetition of lyrics until she reaches a cheer-inducing belt. Instrumentally, the twangy guitar and substantial cymbal use stand out amongst her singing talent. “Obsessive Thoughts” also features heavy cymbals that are intertwined dynamically with Diaz’s guitar playing. Throughout the show, Diaz and Popick continuously show their long-term connection as bandmates through their flawless ability to match dynamic levels.
Before playing “Girlfriend,” Diaz explains that the song is about a time when she saw her ex-boyfriend’s ex-girlfriend at the Newport Folk Festival and her desire to be friends upon meeting his ex-girlfriend. For this song, her vocals fill the entire space of The Sinclair as the drums recede to feature her. She goes on to play “Worst Case Scenario,” an unreleased song where growling guitar sounds match the idea of the worst-case scenario.
During “For Months Now,” it becomes clear that Diaz loves to interact with her audiences, as she points out a couple mid-song that’s holding each other and swaying as they sing. She continues to communicate with the crowd by telling the story behind “God Person,” which consists of a time when she had a discussion about religion with her atheist father about how she wasn’t sure what religion she exactly aligned with while they were staying at a place in Maine with no electricity or running water. At this point, Popick exits the stage to leave Diaz alone with her acoustic guitar.
She once again chats with the audience, describing “Hurting You” to be about “learning how to not be a dick,” which leads her to cut off her conversation. “I’m gonna stop talking now,” says Diaz while laughing. Early in the song, Diaz belts the word “cry” in a way that encapsulates the feeling of guilt from hurting a loved one. White lights shine down on Diaz as she sings the lyrics “Right now, I know it’s hard for you to see / Hurting you is hurting me,” making her appear as an angel while singing about emotionally harming a significant other.
For “Resentment” and “Get To Know Me,” Popick enters the vocal space with subtle harmonies that enhance the impact of Diaz’s singing. Popick proceeds to show off his multi-tasking skills while playing a midi keyboard in front of the drum set during “KFM,” a comical love song based on the game Fuck, Marry, Kill.
After a few songs with her acoustic guitar, Diaz trades it for an orange Gibson Flying V. The guitar first produces a soft sound at the start of “Kiss The Wall,” but eventually takes on distorted sound during the chorus with the swift stomp on a pedal by Diaz. At this point, she also brings up her partnership with the Human Rights Campaign through Propellor and highlights the importance of paying attention to human rights issues and their relation to the upcoming election.
Diaz and Popick well-encompass the song title “Crying In Public” through their vocal and instrumental abilities. Popick maintains a heartbeat-like drum pattern while Diaz sustains impressive belts that overflow with feeling. With a blatant shift from sadness to anger, Diaz seemingly ends her set with “Think Of Me.” The audience yells the lyrics “I hope you fuck her with your eyes closed,” leading them to be the loudest they’ve been for the entire show. As a surprise, Diaz sings a great mash-up with SZA’s “F2F.”
For the encore, Diaz brings out Olivia Barton to sing “New Person, Old Place” with her. They both sing together and harmonize throughout the entire song. They’re also accompanied by Popick on acoustic guitar instead of drums. Their harmonized belts elicit loud cheers from the audience. To end the show, Diaz sings her album’s title track “Weird Faith.” She tells the audience that the album was created based on mantras she’d been formulating for herself at the time of writing. Standing alone with her guitar at the end of the song, Diaz basks in the cheers and applause from the audience, expressing her immense gratitude for such an engaging and loving crowd. She gives The Sinclair one final wave as she heads off the stage just as calmly as she entered it.
