Sharon Van Etten has an undeniable presence. She’s a moody, stage-confident, 37-year-old Pisces. When you’re least expecting it, she’s loud. Her 2019 LP Remind Me Tomorrow features deviations, Korg keyboards, and lyrics only a well-seasoned writer could conjure. And when she performs her older singer/songwriter stuff, she plays a shiny red guitar.
The Royale last Friday, February 8th was packed with fans that already knew the scoop on SVE, as the merch table had her nicknamed. Nilüfer Yanya opened up the show as the sold-out venue filled in. The London band projected heartbreak over high-pitched harmonies, fuzzy riffs, and a perfectly synchronized aesthetic.
As the torch passed over to Van Etten, fans filed closer to the stage. Among her backing band and a beaming purple light, the artist broke the tension and erupted into the first song of the night: “Jupiter 4.” With just a mic in hand, her stage presence felt unfiltered and a touch aggressive (and that’s unexpected, considering many her songs are glimmering, harmonized sad ballads). It works, though, especially with her Remind Me Tomorrow repertoire. She channelled true 70’s glam, with her middle-part bangs, leather-y jeans, and shiny button-down. Lighting from below cast a giant, psychedelic shadow of the singer as she twisted to her electronic-leaning, but still uniquely-Sharon-Van-Etten melodies. Three songs in, after delivering the sucker-punch that is “No One’s Easy to Love,” the New York-based artist addressed us, mentioning that it was comforting to see all the familiar faces, including her own sister in the crowd. She then dived into “One Day,” an easy crowd pleaser from 2010’s Epic.
Other highlights from her newer tracks included nostalgic anthems like the Killers-esque “Comeback Kid” as well as “Seventeen”— what I personally believe to be a 2019 re-imagining of Tegan and Sara’s “Nineteen.” The transitions from seductive “Malibu” to heartfelt “Hands” wasted no time, leaving longtime fans wanting more from the artist, be it banter or anything from her previous four albums. And there were plenty of longtime fans in attendance. So it’s incredible that despite a four year gap between albums, new tracks like the echoey “You Shadow” stand up to the well-liked “Every Time the Sun Comes Up,” which of course got a huge applause, participation, and even dedicated merch. She rounded out the performance with an atmospheric performance of Remind Me Tomorrow’s final track, “Stay.”
If you had any doubt that Van Etten could control a space, seeing her play live is the remedy. Watching her engage a crowd that vastly varied in age when she broke out a powerful, political piano cover of Sinead O’Connor’s “Black Boys on Mopeds” was electrifying. It was the mark of an artist who knows her shit. There was only a short, suspenseful break before the band returned for a three song encore. “Serpents” played live was a bucket-list moment. “I Told You Everything,” with the help of mesmerizing harmonies from her long-time bandmate Heather Broderick, has since become a 2019 must. And when Van Etten started on “Love More” the audience melted all at once, as each one of the 1,000 folks who gazed upward were brought back the naïve nostalgia of 2010.
See below for photos from the show (in order: Sharon Van Etten and Nilüfer Yanya):