Mitski is truly a once in a lifetime performer, and full of surprises, as shown by every one of her tours being completely different. Her first-ever show at the opera house — night one of two local stops on The Land Is Inhospitable and So Are We Tour — looked as much like a modern dance performance as a rock show. The audience collectively decided it would be more appropriate to remain seated for the entire performance, creating a classy environment fitting of the show’s high production value.
The singer/songwriter has now ditched the guitars and basses used at the beginning of her career, incorporating Butoh — a form of Japanese dance theater defined by its violent and visceral moves — into her style of performing, placing all the melancholy characteristic of her music on her blunt and intense movement. She seemed to pay a nod to her roots during “The Frost,” as she sat playing air guitar for the entirety of the song.
The setlist included 10 of 11 tracks from her latest album, as well as pleasant new arrangements of older songs from her catalogue. “Last Words of a Shooting Star” had the full band beautifully backing it as opposed to the simple acoustic studio version, while “I Don’t Smoke” became an upbeat folk-country tune.
Check out photos from her incredible show below.
