ST LUCIA SETLIST )( Encore: OCT 21 Gothic Theatre Englewood, CO with Blanks BLANKS SETLIST Chasing After Memories |
Utopia might just sound and look like this--
A crisp Autumn night in downtown Kansas City outside, was warmed up inside The Truman, as the sunny electro sounds of St. Lucia filled the air, in support of their latest full-length, Utopia.
The evening opened with Dutch electro pop trio Blanks, aka the affable Simon de Wit, who first attracted attention by doing covers on his YouTube channel, then received a Best Artist award in a 2020 Eurosonic competition.
His debut full-length is last year’s Nothing Lasts Forever and That’s OK (a deluxe version was issued this year) and his forty-minute-set was peppered with those songs, as well previous singles and EP cuts from over the last five years.
Several in the crowd had clearly heard of him previous, singing along and jumping frantically like they grew up with him in his native Utrecht. He’s very active on his social channels, including Instagram, where he occasionally group writes a song online with his fans, and those sessions resulted in 2020’s “Stranger” and the road trip song, “Higher”.
de Wit self-confessed he has an obsession with all things 1980’s, down to the mullet he’s growing for the tour, and his poppy yacht rock styling of Post Malone’s “Better Now”. The back end of the set was even more energetic, beginning with “Lost in the Moment” where he had everyone kneel then burst up as the a-ha-esque keyboard beats began the song.
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Fans of electro pop band St. Lucia have had to be patient--
The new album Utopia (on Nettwerk Records) came a full four years after 2018’s Hyperion, their longest gap between albums and between pandemic delays and a move from Brooklyn to Germany to be closer to family, the tour took some time to fully come together. But for the faithful, South African-born Jean-Philip Grobler and his German-born wife Patti Beranek have made it all worth the wait.
In describing the new record, Grobler says, “The journey continues our search for the meaning of ‘Utopia’ through all the joy, sadness, and irony of our modern existence. Is ‘Utopia’ in the extremes or is it in the tug-of-war between the extremes?” and that feeling has been brought to life with the new songs played in concert (the band is filled out by Ross Clark- bass; Nick Paul- keys; Dustin Kaufman- drums) and the intricate stage set, meant to complement the album’s cover design, complete with paper lamps, neon landscapes, and abundant plants.
The ninety-five-minute set started with a short instrumental from the new record before synths fully kicked in and the album’s first full song, “Separate World”, took the crowd on that journey to utopia, but also warned in verse that you “can't believe all you see with your eyes”.
“Before the Dive” would follow, one of their very earliest songs dating back to 2012 and the restless Grobler would leave the stage early, jumping down to sing to and high-five all the loyal fans along the front barricade.
The vibe switched to retro disco for an effervescent “Rocket on My Feet” from the new record, with the crowd clapping along and Beranek adding verses for a shimmering boy-girl dance floor-ready workout. The new album’s lead single, “Touch” revs up a yacht rock beat to keep the dancing going, with Grobler’s falsetto in action on the song’s chorus.
The band then left the stage except for Grobler, who moved over to keys for the more somber “Hey Now”, the last song on the record and the first song composed after the pandemic canceled their planned tour dates. What followed that, was something you don’t see as much anymore at shows, and certainly not at an electro-pop show- a full-fledged drum solo nicely executed by Kaufman.
The positive energy of current single “Give Me the Night” continued the disco vibe with 2016’s “Dancing on Glass” keeping bodies moving, the deep electro throb of” September” got the crowd to “reach for the sun” and the set-closing “Physical” took the collective energy to rave levels.
Grobler surprised the audience for the R&B simmer of “Love Somebody” to begin the encore, strolling out unnoticed at first, to the middle of the floor to croon directly in front of exhilarated audience members, smoothly working a snippet of Nelly/Kelly Rowland’s “Dilemma” into the song as he made his way back on stage.
After a rhythm punctuated Paul Simon cover and thanking the crowd, crew, and openers, the evening would end with their best-known US hit, the charming “Elevate”, which personifies the sound of most of their songs- a sunny, satisfying fruit smoothie of a track you can’t help smiling after hearing.
“In South Africa, there’s a place called St. Lucia, and it’s similar to the island in the Caribbean because it’s where you escape, it’s utopia” Grobler has said in a recent interview, “There are many ideas of utopia, whether it means virus-free or a virtual tech utopia. It’s easy to feel depressed these days, so I’m trying to bring something joyous to the world.”
Mission accomplished – for 95minutes, Kansas City got to escape to Utopia.
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| john c ([email protected]) ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ twitter.com |
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