The line was nonexistent. Congress Street was like a ghost town when people should’ve been lining up for the June 20 Santigold concert. The venue was strangely empty. Where were all the people? Her songs have been featured in movies, commercials, and MTV. Even the ticket price – a stiff $23 – said something of her importance.
Waiting for the show to start, music was blasting-the song choices gave one the impression that whoever’s iPod it came from was most definitely on crack. Songs such as “”Mad Science”” and “”Mr. Roboto”” were blasted on the speakers. The gathering crowd was getting impatient waiting for the show to start; it was delayed for almost 40 minutes.
Finally, Amanda Blank opened the show. She had two DJs backing her as she rapped and eccentrically danced across the stage flailing limbs and all. This girl really could rap and she sang too. She came out in what looked like Little-Red-Riding-Hood meets “”Flashdance,”” completely black from head to…butt. She had extremely high energy as she jumped around the stage to the beat that accompanied each song. The synthy sound accompanied with an occasional moonwalk added to her funky appeal. Even though the majority of the audience had no idea who she was, Blank still got them dancing.
After waiting ridiculously long for the stagehands to switch out the stage, which didn’t require much since everything was already there, Trouble Andrew took the stage. Sirens, air horns, strobe lights, and anything loud or obnoxious, introduced the group. They gave out this early 90s vibe in both their music and appearance. Backed up by a full band, Trouble Andrew clad in jean from head to toe, slicked hair, shades, cap, gold chains, and Vans was the epitome of a crazy lead singer dancing from one end of the stage to the other. He took up as much space as possible while getting a little bit more enthusiasm from the crowd. Pure insanity seemed to work for them. Trouble Andrew appeared to enjoy this last stop of its tour.
Everyone was antsy waiting for the final act. Free energy drinks were thrown, chugged, and the impatience worsened. The crowd was amped up on Amp. The crowd started a slow clap, which lead to nowhere, followed by chants of “”San-ti-gold, San-ti-gold, San-ti-gold.”” Still no Santi. The venue was now full. Everyone was ready.
The stage darkened, and out walked the band in their black and white African-inspired garb complete with golden hats. Next the backup singers-dancers trotted out in the same color scheme. And last but not least, Santigold came and took the stage to play her first show in Arizona. Her 15-song set was solid. She made eye-contact with her audience with each word she sang, and you could catch the biggest smile on her face when she caught people getting into her music. Her stoic dancers, or “”SG1s”” as she liked to call them, seemed to chant along to the words and occasionally broke out into krumping and knee knocking while keeping straight faces. They were hilarious to watch with their awkward jerky movements. There was not one person in the venue that wasn’t moving along with the music-it really was a giant dance party. Toward the end of her set she invited five of the best dancers to come onstage with her for “”Creator.”” It definitely wasn’t five people and things got a little crazy.
Her floaty voice shined throughout her entire performance. Despite this being Santigold’s first tour with live instruments, the band worked well together and got into the music. Their cover of The Cure’s “”Killing an Arab”” was brilliant and demonstrated the group’s versatility and ability to change things up. Santigold’s energy surged throughout her set, proving that she is one of those artists who are better live than on record. (Her CD is still worth listening to, however.)
