Weyes Blood Brings Entrancing Performance To Brooklyn Steel (SHOW REVIEW)

Weyes Blood, the project of Los Angeles singer-songwriter Natalie Mering, hit something of a breakthrough with the critically acclaimed Titanic Rising in 2019, an album that has grown to near-classic status among a sect of music fans in the years since. And now with another record under their belt, last year’s stellar And in the Darkness, Hearts Aglow, Mering brought her “In Holy Flux” Tour to New York last weekend for a sold-out two-night stand at East Williamsburg staple Brooklyn Steel. Glide was there on Saturday (3/4) and found an artist at the height of their powers.

The show certainly felt sold-out; the people poured in and had nearly filled up the floor by the time the opening act was getting underway. And that opening act, whistler Molly Lewis, very quickly caught the gathering crowd’s attention. Lewis whistles like a violinist playing the violin, and armed with nothing else but some gentle backing tracks her performance on originals like “Oceanic Feeling” and “Balcony for Two” along with a bossa nova Chopin rendition had the room entranced.

It served as the perfect primer for what was to come. Numerous electric candelabras adorned the stage and flickered out through an ever-thickening shroud of fog, looking like something out of Phantom of the Opera, as Weyes Blood’s band took their places at their instruments and conjured up a swelling noise. As Mering strode out, dressed in a sleeveless white dress with a flowing cape to match, she was met by a roar of cheers from the audience, and the noise settled into the gentle opening piano chords of “It’s Not Just Me, It’s Everybody.” Mering’s voice was impeccable from the get-go, her performance never straying far from the studio versions but delivering the drama in her melodies with thoughtful precision. People seemed to hold their breath as she worked her way through material from …in the Darkness… and her 2019 breakthrough, Titanic Rising, restraining themselves from singing along, even though they might know all of the words by heart, because it was Mering’s voice they were there to hear. Newer songs like “Children of the Empire” and “A Given Thing” were especially elevated in her performance, with the latter Joni-esque ballad proving a particularly potent vocal showcase as Mering turned each phrase around in a romantic swirl over the quiet piano and backing vocals.

Mering was accompanied throughout the night by her ace 4-piece band, who managed to capture the density and intricacies of the arrangements with such skill one could be fooled at times into thinking she was backed by a small orchestra while also imbuing the songs with new life more suited to the stage. There was punchy standout slide guitar work on “Andromeda” and booming drum fills on “Grapevine”, and on “Everyday” – which Mering introduced as one of the only upbeat, danceable numbers of the night, jokingly instructing the crowd to “grab a partner and start the moshpit” – the band built up into a glorious cacophony of an ending. Between songs she trolled the room about astrology (“It’s not real…the sandwich you ate today had a bigger impact than whether Mercury is in Gatorade”) and the moon landing; expressing her desire for us to all go to a new galaxy and create a whole new system. She also collected an assortment of DVDs on stage from fans who’d brought them as gifts, and discussed the work of British documentarian Adam Curtis, who had made her the video clip that played during an ethereal performance of “God Turn Me Into a Flower”. 

The main set rounded out with a string of highlights, with Mering going full Kate Bush as she twirled about the stage singing “Twin Flame,” then delivering one of the finest moments of the night on Titanic Rising stunner “Movies”. Illuminated in a watery blue glow with the rest of the stage dark save for the candles, Mering’s voice sent chills throughout the room, and as the drums built up for the song’s finale and lights started flashing she turned to grab a bouquet of white flowers and leapt across the stage tossing them one by one into the crowd. “Hearts Aglow” wrapped things up in a dreamy sway as Mering sang the hopeful tune with reassuring warmth, dropping to her knees as the music swelled around her.

The encore featured two more of the night’s finest performances. First with “Something to Believe”, which Mering introduced as something of a summary statement of the conversions on astrology and belief she’d brought up earlier. Here her fans couldn’t resist joining in as she sang the song’s memorable opening lines, but their voices faded just as quickly allowing Mering’s to shine through. Closing things out, she sent the band off the stage and decided to strike her intended last song, “Bad Magic” off 2014’s The Innocents, and honor a fan request from earlier in the night by playing Titanic Rising’s “Picture Me Better” for the first time this year. As she strummed her acoustic guitar her pure and formidable voice enraptured the crowd and reverberated through the room for a properly tear-jerking performance.

Weyes Blood will spend much of the rest of the year on the road, including a stint opening for Beck and Phoenix, and anyone who catches this show live is in for a treat. Natalie Mering set her long-running musical project on a new course with the release of Titanic Rising four years ago, and it’s a course that continues to bear fruit. That she could pack the sizable Brooklyn Steel twice over is a testament to that, but the adoration and respect from her fans are earned in the way she’s able to so successfully translate these songs to the stage and seems to have come newly into her own as a performer. While this new life might mean her older material falls by the wayside, Mering’s humor, talent, and artistry were all on such grand display that it’s difficult to imagine even her most longtime fans left Brooklyn Steel feeling anything but satisfied.

Weyes Blood Setlist Brooklyn Steel, Brooklyn, NY, USA 2023, In Holy Flux Tour

 

 

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