Weyes Blood dazzled with heart and humor at Brooklyn Steel (Night 2 review, pics, setlist, video)

"You sure have a lot of requests!" Natalie Mering was a little overwhelmed by the mass of very enthusiastic fans shouting out songs at Brooklyn Steel, and like with almost anything she told the crowd on Saturday night (the second of two sold-out shows), it was met with rapturous applause and much woo-hooing. "But I think we’ve got a plan of our own." she said before launching into the next song.

That plan, the In Holy Flux tour, is a genuinely dazzling production, bringing songs from Weyes Blood's two most recent albums -- 2019's Titanic Rising and 2022's And In the Darkness, Hearts Aglow -- to widescreen, technicolor life. Decorated in myriad candelabras, with smoke adding a hazy atmosphere to the stellar lighting design, it was a stage worthy of a Jim Steinman production (or Stevie Nicks), and Mering was dressed for the occasion in a flowing white dress that seemed to have a life of its own when she twirled (more rapturous woo-ing).

That dress also served as a projection screen for one of the night's many highlights, "Movies," where she was suddenly lit up with dancing blue light as blasting synthesizer arpeggiations washed over the room, making for a much more visceral version of the song than on Titanic Rising. Another great moment: the ethereal "God, Turn Me Into a Flower," which featured a montage created for the tour by filmmaker and frequent Massive Attack collaborator Adam Curtis, intercutting moments of extreme joy and sorrow, as Mering sang, "You yearn to be that dream you could never get to / 'Cause the person on the other side has always just been you."

The tour features most of Titanic Rising and Hearts Aglow's best moments: the pedal-steel soaked "Andromeda," the soaring "Grapevine," the jaunt "Everyday" (which kicked off the "dance" portion of the set), and "Twin Flame," with its vintage drum machines and a stage lit in vivid violet and blue.

Mering did deviate from their plan for the final song of the night, taking an audience request for "Picture Me Better" -- its first play this year -- which Mering did solo. (The originally planned song was "Bad Magic.") There was also technical hiccup: her glowing heart, as seen on the album cover, konked out at the previous night's Brooklyn Steel show, which meant "Hearts Aglow" was not quite as iridescent. But not even a broken heart couldn't marr the evening.

A few stay observations:

• Natalie Mering is hilarious, and her stage banter, some of which was clearly prepared, was fantastic throughout the night. She was also not afraid to wind up the adoring crowd. "Do you believe in astrology?," she asked the crowd to hunderous applause, but then said, "It’s not real. The sandwich you ate earlier has more to do with your life than the stars. But it's fun to talk about. I self identify as a Scorpio, but we're all Geminis tonight"
• A huge movie fan, Mering requested fans bring her DVDs to watch on the tour bus. "Feel free to just throw them up here, but be careful," and fans did, with Natalie reading some of them out to us. Saturday's haul included bad movie classic Troll 2, and single-shot film Russian Ark. Good movies!
• Her band was great and the live arrangements were as rich and orchestrated as you would hope.
• When the lights came up at the end of the show, as Bowie's "Fashion" blared over the sound system, it was clear a lot of fans were moved to tears by the show.

Check out photos by P Squared, along with the setlist and fan-shot video, below. Check out Night 1 pics and recap here.

Weyes Blood plays Boston tonight, but noted on Saturday that her broken heart would not be mended till the Montreal show on Tuesday. She'll be back in NYC this summer when she opens for the Beck / Phoenix tour at Madison Square Garden on September 9. All dates are listed below.

SETLIST: Weyes Blood @ Brooklyn Steel 3/4/2023
It's Not Just Me, It's Everybody
Children of the Empire
A Lot's Gonna Change
God Turn Me Into a Flower
Andromeda
Grapevine
A Given Thing
Everyday
Wild Time
Twin Flame
Movies
Hearts Aglow

Encore:
Something to Believe
Picture Me Better

WEYES BLOOD - 2023 TOUR DATES

Sun. Mar. 05 - Boston, MA - Roadrunner ^
Tue. Mar. 07 - Montreal, QC - MTELUS ^
Wed. Mar. 08 - Toronto, ON - The Danforth Music Hall [SOLD OUT] ^
Thu. Mar. 09 - Toronto, ON - The Danforth Music Hall [SOLD OUT] ^
Fri. Mar. 10 - Detroit, MI - El Club [SOLD OUT] ^
Sat. Mar. 11 - Chicago, IL - Riviera Theatre [SOLD OUT] ^
Mon. Mar. 13 - Milwaukee, WI - The Pabst Theater **
Tue. Mar. 14 - Minneapolis, MN - First Avenue **
Wed. Mar. 15 - Des Moines, IA - Wooly's **
Fri. Mar. 17 - Englewood, CO - Gothic Theatre [SOLD OUT] **
Sat. Mar. 18 - Salt Lake City, UT - The Depot **
Sun. Mar. 19 - Boise, ID - Knitting Factory Concert House **
Tue. Mar. 21 - Vancouver, BC - Commodore Ballroom [SOLD OUT] **
Wed. Mar. 22 - Seattle, WA - The Showbox at The Market [SOLD OUT] **
Thu. Mar. 23 - Portland, OR - McMenamins Crystal Ballroom [SOLD OUT] **
Sat. Mar. 25 - San Francisco, CA - The Regency Ballroom [SOLD OUT] **
Sun. Mar. 26 - San Francisco, CA - The Regency Ballroom [SOLD OUT] **
Tue. Mar. 28 - Phoenix, AZ - The Van Buren **
Wed. Mar. 29 - Santa Fe, NM - Meow Wolf [SOLD OUT] **
Fri. Mar. 31 - Austin, TX - Stubb's Waller Creek Amphitheater **
Sat. Apr. 01 - Dallas, TX - Studio at The Factory **
Sun. Apr. 02 - Tulsa, OK - Cain's Ballroom **
Sun. Apr. 16 - Indio, CA - Coachella
Sun. Apr. 23 - Indio, CA - Coachella
Fri. May 12 - Salt Lake City, UT - Kilby Block Party
Sat. May 13 - Salt Lake City, UT - Kilby Block Party
Sun. May 14 - Salt Lake City, UT - Kilby Block Party

^ w/ Molly Lewis
** w/ Vagabon

Weyes Blood opening for Beck + Phoenix/ August + September 2023
Fri. Aug. 18 - Rogers, AR - Walmart AMP
Sun. Aug. 20 - Houston, TX - Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion
Mon. Aug. 21 - Dallas, TX - Dos Equis Pavilion
Tue. Aug. 22 - Austin, TX - Moody Center
Thu. Aug. 31 - Chicago, IL - Huntington Bank Pavilion
Sat. Sep. 02 - Detroit, MI - Pine Knob Music Theatre
Sun. Sep. 03 - Toronto, ON - Budweiser Stage
Tue. Sep. 05 - Boston, MA - MGM Music Hall at Fenway
Fri. Sep. 08 - Philadelphia, PA - TD Pavilion at the Mann
Sat. Sep. 09 - New York, NY - Madison Square Garden
Sun. Sep. 10 - Columbia, MD - Merriweather Post Pavilion