After a active and energetic Day 1, especially after the mad and dynamic sets by closers Carly Rae Jepsen and Maggie Rogers, my feet were a little exhausted entering Day 2 of All Things Go 2023 at Merriweather Post Pavilion. Fortunately, this day was filled with entertainers best understood for songwriting and speculative instrumentals, providing the crowd to sway instead of leap up and down and use up energy. Singer-songwriters and skilled singers carried out on another warm day in Columbia, Maryland, liquidating an enormously effective celebration weekend.
Samia
Samia took the Chrysalis phase early in the day to sing her tracks about destruction, love, desire, and yearning, imposing her reliability as one of the most wrenching songwriters carrying out today. Opening with her nervous track ‘Pool’, she sang (relatably) about the horrors of daily life: “How long do I have entrusted my pet dog ’til I begin forgetting shit?”, then transitioned into the satirical ‘Fit N Full’. I had actually seen Samia when previously, and her energy and happiness on phase stayed the very same while carrying out positive hits from her launching album The Baby Some more tracks from her exceptional Honey, launched previously this year, would have been excellent too, however the crowd singing along to the psychological lyrics from ‘Kill Her Freak Out’ (” I hope you wed the woman from your home town, and I’ll fucking eliminate her, and I’ll fucking freakout”) and feel-good intoxicated anthem ‘Honey’ was ample to please the Samia fans in the crowd.
Ethel Cain
I have a bone to choose with whomever did the scheduling for early Sunday afternoon, as Ethel Cain’s set began suddenly in the middle of Samia’s, the opening notes of ‘A House In Nebraska’ ringing out throughout the celebration premises like a threatening siren call. Individuals legally ran to the primary phase in order to hear her stomping hit ‘American Teenager’ and stayed to hear more of the Floridian’s tunes from her breakout albumPreacher’s Daughter Between the 2, I had actually seen both previously, and Samia is a more vibrant entertainer (just due to the fact that of the category of music she carries out), so I remained to hear her set play out. I captured the last half of Ethel Cain’s, which started with the effective slowburn ‘Thoroughfare’, transitioned to the warm, gospel-like ‘Sun Bleached Flies’, and ended with the positive and effective ‘Crush’.
Alex G
I had actually never ever listened to anything by Alex G prior to his setlist, so I was shocked, enthralled, and attracted by the indie rocker’s unusual runtime. Playing 17 tracks, the majority of which from his 2022 record God Save the Animals, the artist utilized soundboards and a guitar to transmit his speculative concepts. This was certainly submitted under “Not sure what’s going on, however I like it!”
MUNA
Electrifying and liberating queer trio MUNA liquidated the Chrysalis phase Sunday night, and as diva Katie Gavin put it, she considered it as opening for Lana Del Rey, plainly an interesting idea. After embellishing the celebration as “Lesbo-palooza,” they carried out a terrific mix of smart and well-written electropop, throughout which I was fortunate sufficient to be right near the barrier. Other band members Jo Maskin and Naomi McPherson had the time of their lives carrying out tunes from their 3 albums, mainly from their exceptional self-titled 2022 record. Emphasizes consisted of the pleasure-seeking ‘What I Want’, victorious and caring “I Know A Place’, and brand-new single ‘One That Got Away’. Prior to their feel-good nation anthem ‘Kind of Girl’, they committed the number to all the trans individuals in the audience, a nod to the anti-queer legislation happening in the nation at the minute. Simply carrying out as 3 queer individuals with an audience of mainly queer fans is a declaration in and of itself. They closed the program with fan-favorite ‘Silk Chiffon’, bringing Arlo Parks onto the phase, who carried out previously at night, and it was difficult to leave the set sensation extraordinary and like you belonged.
Lana Del Rey
With everybody event at the primary phase at 9:30, the hills decorated with blankets and standing fans, it was difficult to seem like something extremely memorable wasn’t about to occur. A couple of minutes after her scheduled time, Lana Del Rey enhanced the phase in a stunning black dress, singing the title track from her finest album, Norman Fucking Rockwell! She carried out a reduced variation of it, in addition to ‘Arcadia’, ‘A&W’, and ‘The Grants’, owing to time, though her omission of the latter’s divine outro was a little frustrating. It can’t be stated enough how extraordinary Lana sounded live, as she sang slower cuts like ‘Bartender’ and ‘Chemtrails Over the Country Club’ in the middle of stylish dancers. She kept thanking Baltimore for our existence (we were in Columbia), referencing the complete moon we were under (it wasn’t), her real set was enchanting, consisting of widely known tunes cut from each of her albums, conserve
Honeymoon
At the middle, she drew out regular partner Jack Antonoff to sing the charming ode to his other half ‘Margaret’, then a reduced variation of ‘Venice Bitch’, among Lana’s finest tunes.(*) Afterwards, worried that Merriweather would cut her off due to the fact that she began early (they apparently have an extremely rigorous curfew policy), she changed up the tracklist so that she ‘d have the ability to perform what she had actually been conserving for last. “Wan na sing ‘Video Games’ with me?” she asked the crowd, to an emphatic yes, and swinging on a flower-laden swing, she performed her tune that began everything. ‘Did You Know That There’s a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd’ followed, with an angelic outro that made the tune a pleasing one to hear live. After a fast audience survey regarding what they wished to hear next, Lana carried out the extreme ‘Ultraviolence’ and ‘Born to Die’, prior to closing with the stylish ‘hope is a hazardous thing for a female like me to have– however i have it’ the outro throughout which she was dragged off-stage in a white medical facility dress, feigning psychiatric examination (making good sense with the Sylvia Plath and “sociopath” lyricism in the tune). Odd art efficiency piece or not, Lana liquidated the weekend the only method she understood how, and previously in the night, she thanked the crowd for enabling her and her band to do so. “I hope you do too,” she advised the crowd, throughout her moving and famous set, “as insane as you wan na be.”(*)
