Angel Olsen & Vagabon @ Riviera Theatre (pics, video, setlist)
While Olsen didn’t replicate the entire sonic grandeur of her latest record onstage, she performed most of the set’s adventurous material with assistance from a four-piece band and two-piece string section. At once nuanced and soaring, the arrangements underscored the lingering uncertainties and painful revelations laid bare in the lyrics. Song progressions took on the form of miniature sagas, complete with build-ups, climaxes and denouements.
Olsen matched the collective’s swirling, synth-heavy expanses with juxtaposed phrasing, unexpected shifts and deep-seated feeling. She sang with devastating intensity at both high and low volumes. During the severe “Impasse,” dark murmurs swelled to resonant cries, with blood-red lighting complementing the tenor of Olsen’s emotions. A cooing falsetto intertwined with the alien thrum of “New Love Cassette,” producing a woozy mix of organic and synthetic. On the bounding “Summer,” the 32-year-old nodded to the breezy French ye-ye pop of the 1960s. Yet nothing on this night involved much innocence. [The Chicago Tribune]
A cold didn’t keep Angel Olsen from her Thursday night (11/14) show at Chicago’s Riviera Theater, part of her tour with Vagaon supporting her new album, All Mirrors. The set’s first seven songs were from that album, and then she delved back into her discography for a few deeper cuts and fan favorites, including 2016’s “Shut Up Kiss Me.” After closing out her set with a solo rendition of “Some Things Cosmic” from her 2010 debut EP Strange Cacti, she came back out for a two-song encore that included her Mark Ronson collaboration “True Blue.” Check out pictures from the show, including Vagabon’s opening set, in the gallery above, and find a few fan-taken videos and Angel’s setlist below.
Angel’s tour hits NYC next week for three sold out nights at Brooklyn Steel, November 21, 22, and 23. Vagabon opens night two; on night one, she headlines a free Noisey Nights show at Villain with Aerial East. Zsela opens Angel’s 11/21 show, and Madi Diaz opens 11/23.
Setlist: Angel Olsen @ The Riviera Theatre, 11/14/2019
New Love Cassette
All Mirrors
Spring
Impasse
Lark
Summer
Tonight
Special
Sweet Dreams
Shut Up Kiss Me
Acrobat
Endgame
Some Things Cosmic (Solo)
Encore:
Chance
True Blue (Mark Ronson)
—
photos by James Richards IV
