SHOW REVIEW: Mitski @ The Shrine Auditorium

Mitski

Pressing play on a Mitski song is choosing violence.

And I don’t mean that in the way of the KnowYourMeme-entried “Wake Up And Choose Violence,” a TikTok turn of phrase often used to describe mildly cHaOtIc behavior, although the online culture that’s all but swallowed Mitski up may cause your mind to jump there (more on the tragic memeification of Mitski later, though).

No, Mitski’s music is truly dripping in blood. She bears witness to dog fights and plane crashes. Her love plummets “like a body from a balcony” and her heart bangs around like a washing machine. Entering the Shrine Auditorium on March 29th — the second night of the artist’s three-night run at the venue — felt like stepping into a boxing ring. A Mitski song can hit like a punch to the jaw.

Carpooling to the show with a friend who received her ticket as a gift and was less well-versed in the Mitskiverse than I, I was asked the question, “What is the vibe going to be?” My answer, simply, “Pretend like you’re going to see a play.”

This advice proved accurate. Not only did the audience remain seated and relatively tight-lipped throughout the performance, but the production design and Mitski’s performance themselves were governed by a calculated theatricality. While Mitski’s music can get messy, this was anything but.

She casually strolled into view during opener “Everybody,” only to disappear mid-song behind a thick, velvety curtain that concealed the stage’s circular center. At the song’s precipice, the curtain abruptly dropped and revealed Mitski standing in the brightly-lit nucleus of the stage, where she stayed perched for the remainder of her set surrounded by a sizable instrumental ensemble.

The setlist was mostly made up of last year’s The Land is Inhospitable and So Are We, with fan favorites and deep cuts alike from the artist’s preceding four projects filling in the gaps. Mitski delivered some updated versions of classics as well, including an upbeat version of midnight yearner “Pink in The Night” and a hoedown-ready rendition of “I Don’t Smoke,” replacing the original’s grimey guitar riffs with a country twang.

Most immediately striking about Mitski’s stage presence was her physicality. Her lyrics rang out like nursery rhymes accompanied by her strange, mime-like movements, staccato and rehearsed. Her performance was at once dramatic and intimate, with deadly sincerity but also a wicked sense of humor. Allowing her body to bend to the will of her music’s tidal emotions, Mitski brought the transcendent down to earth.

During the devastating “I Bet On Losing Dogs,” Mitski took to all fours, embodying the lowly creature she places her hope in. “I bet on losing dogs / I know they're losing and I'll pay for my place by the ring / Where I'll be looking in their eyes when they're down / I'll be there on their side.” In moments like this, the artful choreography added dimension to older music that otherwise could have felt like a greatest hits parade.

And what would this article be without a mention of the spectacular “My Love Mine All Mine,” a dreamy slow-dance that became one of last year’s most surprising hits and one of Mitski’s most popular songs to date. For this climactic moment of the set, shards of mirrors descended from the ceiling, creating a breathtaking image of Mitski crooning surrounded by warm glimmers of reflected light.

In the crowd, it felt like there was an active and collective effort to preserve a reverent atmosphere. When overexcited fans stood up, they were loudly told to sit down. Any unsavory heckles (although never quite as cringeworthy as the viral “Mother is mothering!” in Philadelphia) were met with shhs.

The Mitski brand has been desecrated to death online, with the artist often being positioned as no more than a beacon for “sad girls,” her artistry a cheapened commodity to fuel the trend mill. So while it might sound authoritarian, the commitment of the crowd to preserving a sacredness indicated to me that her legacy won’t cave in under the weight of her mainstream success.

Mitski has a knack for finding the hollow pit of everything. She can bottle the emotionally extraordinary into ordinary prose; her metaphors are without artifice yet paint in high definition and cut to the bone.

“That love is like a star / It’s gone, you just see it shining / It’s traveled very far,” she sings on “Star’” another highlight from The Land is Inhospitable. Seeing Mitski live was like witnessing a shooting star passing by. Her songs are but the leftover glow of the white-hot feelings that inspired them, but that night I saw the music shining brilliantly from the source. It felt warm on my skin, and it only burned a little bit.

-DJ Danny Darko AKA Fitz Cain

Photo by Christopher Polk for Variety