Santigold's performance Saturday night at the House of Blues in West Hollywood balanced the euphoric stardom of a stadium show with the intimate realness of a performance in front of friends. As the creator of very possibly the most dynamic performance that occurred anywhere during Los Angeles' entire Grammy weekend, Santigold brought her vision as a true artist to a concert that brought the welcomed audience on stage, to their feet, and begging for even more hits.
From the word "Go," Santigold held a uniquely sweet power of performance that was simply unstoppable. Bringing her sound to the House of Blues, this Wesleyan ('97) graduate stationed herself for a grand entrance that paid subtle homage to shows of legends like James Brown and more as she sang a remarkable sequence of her hit songs.
The sensation of "reiki-like" energy in her hands, and the reverberating vibrations of her music lifted the love of the audience to higher planes as the show was full of spectacle, costume changes, dance and interactivity that enabled the listener to hear the music at its highest level. This occurred even as the sexy empowering spectacle generated its own power from her remarkably eclectic range of musical talent and influences. A beautiful positive cycle is created as the sensational frequencies from the songs, the onstage theatre, and the audience pleasures build upon each other into a interconnected network of ecstatic flowing precision.
Santigold often sites music from icons like Prince and from Sting's punk-reggae-rock with his band the Police as some of her influences that she has successfully synthesized into her own boldly unique style. She does share a rare gift of synchronicity with these artists because, with her band, she rocks the nation of fans she has solidified the support of in the process of climbing to new peaks of success. Santigold's talent, dedication and knowledge of the industry is perhaps virtually unparalleled, but her combination of creative eccentricity, solid industry experience, and intellectual perspective allow for a moment before you take in fully immediately that this may be the best show one can see anywhere. Period.
Sometimes it feels like "Lights Out" for quality current pop music, but Santigold proved all night that she can push right past anything with unrelenting charm, allure, dedication and technical musical aptitude.
The ability to time her beautiful spiritual gaze towards a specific section of the flowing crowd in just the right way, and in just the right moment, comes from a combination of rapid reaction time in absorbing the here and now along with a deeply developed anthropological understanding of the ritual of the concert itself in society. It's a ritual of the real performed in the signage of the increasingly enlightened roots of the cultural collective unconscious. With Santigold's guidance, it's a ritual that reaches new neurological heights. Saturday night in Los Angeles a unified, intimate crowd of devoted fans, and an engaged VIP section of music insiders enjoyed a permanently profound transformational experience.
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