Manchester Academy
26th April 2022
Melancholy rules the air as Mitski and SASAMI dominate the Academy’s stage.
Since the song Nobody went viral on Tiktok the past year, Mitski has seen her audience grow a significant amount, shifting from a niche following to full blown superstar.
The queue leading up to Manchester Academy is unlike any other recent concert at the well known venue. Hundreds of people have been queueing for hours in advance, waiting to see Mitski perform her latest album. A while passes before everyone is let in. Inside the venue, Sasami is providing an exceptional live performance, with an energetic stage performance and impressive band backing her. She plays a few fan favourites, before covering System of A Down’s Toxicity, which is met with a very positive response. Closing, it is easy to tell that Sasami’s performance sets the tone for the main act of the night.
The lights go down as the audience erupts into cheers and screaming, chanting Mitski’s name as her band appears and sets up on stage. As Love Me More starts playing, the crowd immediately starts chanting the lyrics. This atmosphere continues throughout the setlist, as the headliner performs her latest material, alongside some fan favourites the likes of Me and My Husband, Nobody, Your Best American Girl and Heat Lightning.
Throughout the show, Mitski provides some fascinating and artistic choreography, following a theme. The forest background with a door set up behind her seems similar to a portal leading to a different dimension, highlighting different colours based on the songs order.
The last 4 songs on her setlist include some of her most well known songs. Goodbye, My Danish Sweetheart kicks off this emotional 4 track ending to the show, a song that is met with multiple people tearing up in the audience. It is followed by Washing Machine Heart, which started with the audience singing the first verse as a karaoke challenge set by the artist. Finally A Pearl closes off the official setlist, before Two Slow Dancers is performed as the encore of the night.
In conclusion Mitski’s Manchester tour stop will be considered a memorable one, as visuals, sound and performance were at top level on Tuesday night. A superb live show from a superb artist.
Words by Daniel Tsourekas
Photos by Melanie Smith http://www.mudkissphotography.co.uk
