“Hello Cleveland!”
St. Vincent’s Annie Clark clearly loved the This is Spinal Tap reference. She couldn’t stop saying it at Friday night’s Rock & Roll Hall of Fame concert.
“Yeah, I know. It’s a tired joke,” she said, before explaining that her gold guitar appears in the mockumentary’s upcoming sequel, Spinal Tap II: The End Continues. “So I think it’s okay to come to this city and with all gusto and all love in my heart, and say, ‘Hello Cleveland!’”
Standing on the outdoor plaza’s stage, the musician and her band rocked out in perfectly cool late-summer weather in their tight set — all right here in the home of rock ‘n roll. (Or, at least in the driveway to the home of rock ‘n’ roll.)
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It was fitting. St. Vincent is a likely future Rock & Roll Hall of Famer.
Clark will be eligible to get into the Rock Hall in 2031. Maybe she’ll get in on the first ballot. Maybe it’ll take a few nominations. But it seems pretty clear she will get in.
Her stage outfits have already been displayed at the museum. She’s had iconic performances at Rock Hall induction ceremonies, including her cinematic, pitch-perfect tribute to Kate Bush’s “Running Up That Hill” in 2023 and her gnarly, impassioned “Lithium” with Nirvana. (Freaking Nirvana!)
It’s just a matter of time before she plays her own songs at an induction ceremony.
Clark started as an indie-rock darling, and while she still appeals to the indie crowd, she’s a critical, Grammy-winning success, too. Eighteen years ago, she confidently cemented her songwriting skills and shredding abilities on her 2007 debut album, Marry Me. Each subsequent St. Vincent album has been strong and stylistically distinct, from 2015’s expansive, intense self-titled release, to 2017’s sleek electro-forward Masseduction, to the smoky psychedelia of 2021’s Daddy’s Home — and in her brassy, quirky 2012 collaborative release with The Talking Heads’ David Byrne — and in every other song in between.
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Those songs melded and mixed onstage in the All Born Screaming tour stop in Cleveland. At times, Clark toyed with her vocal work, adding soft yodels, growls and yelps to songs. The riffing added a bit of fun to the “Cheerleader” outro, but distracted from the “New York” ballad, when Clark quipped about being “a total c***” during the otherwise-heartfelt song. Scuzzy takes on “Los Ageless” and “Birth in Reverse” were rock-forward, as were the guitar solos that had Clark shredding and writhing on the stage floor.
Yet, genres don’t mean much to Clark.
“Rock ‘n’ roll is not a genre of music,” Clark said, recounting a lesson given to her by Joan Jett, and a view that’s not uncommon at Cleveland’s Rock Hall. “Rock ‘n’ roll is a mindset. Rock n’ roll is a lifestyle.”
It’s a rigorous lifestyle. The crew has toured in support of All Born Screaming for well over a year, since it was released in spring 2024. Clark said the band will wrap up its current chapter soon.
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If these songs were born screaming, they’re going out screaming too. In these final days of tour, the group still carried plenty of energy, strutting while hitting plucky solos with guitarist Jason Faulkner on “Sugarboy” and giving drummer Mark Guiliana room to shine on a “Cheerleader” ending solo.
In some ways, without some of the over-the-top stage props, costume changes and skits that I’ve experienced on St. Vincent’s former Daddy’s Home and Masseduction tours, the more barebones show stood out more starkly, its music taking focus in a way that centered Clark’s swagger and skills. But in other ways, I missed the visual spectacle of those things, too.
As she finished up her unvarnished encore performance on “Candy Darling,” Clark battled back clouds of midges with her hands. She took a bow, and then snuck in her favorite thing to say in the city.
After all, what better way to say goodbye, than with a “Hello Cleveland”?
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