St. Vincent – The Armory – Minneapolis MN – September 14th 2021

The Armory presents St. Vincent 

Review by Reece Lindberg

Photos by Tommy Sommers

Hot on the heels of the release of her mockumentary, “The Nowhere Inn,” a collaboration with “Portlandia”/Sleater-Kinney-famed Carrie Brownstein, St. Vincent’s Annie Clark played a mesmerizing performance to an energetic crowd at the Armory on Tuesday night, one of the venue’s first shows back after the Covid pandemic.

The performance showcased tracks from’s Clark’s recent release, “Daddy’s Home,” a soul-infused meditation on being down and out in New York City in the 70’s, featuring a backing band that included longtime NIN-contributor, Justin Meldal-Johnsen, former Jellyfish member, Jason Falkner, and an impressive trio of backing vocalists, who doubled as supporting actresses in the near-cinematic interludes that were sprinkled in between the set’s 20 tracks.

Clark played updated, 70’s disco-inspired versions of the singles that catapulted her last self-titled album to the top of year-end best album lists, like “Digital Witness” and “Birth in Reverse,” peppered the set with tracks that planted her firmly on the alt/rock radar (“Cheerleader”), and gave a soaring performance of “New York,” timely in its delivery only days out from the 20th anniversary of 9/11.

Her last Minneapolis performance, predominately Clark solo on stage with a guitar in 2017, was a novel approach to the leading lady aesthetic, but her performance at the Armory with a full band and a seemingly call and response approach with her talented backing vocalists proved to be a far more fulfilling St. Vincent experience.

Clark continues to surpass expectations with each new album and proved to do the same with her performance this week at the Armory.