You’re in the middle of the crowd, covered in sweat. When is she coming on? It’s already 9:04 and you’re anxious to see her. Suddenly, the lights come down and after the sound of a gong you see a screen come to life on the stage. A crooked clock appears counting down from a minute, followed by cheers from the crowd. It’s about to start!
At 45 seconds there’s another gong. The crowd is buzzing with anticipation. 30 seconds and the band walks on the stage. So close to starting!! At 20 seconds clock ticks get louder. You feel yourself getting pushed closer to the stage.
10 seconds. 9. 8. What song will she play first? 5. 4. You can’t take it anymore! 3. 2. 1. At 0, you see the stage bathed in red light and hear the familiar vocalizing that can only mean one thing.
Caroline Polachek comes on the stage to deafening cheers and starts playing “Welcome to My Island”.
As the song starts, a red blazing sun comes on the screen behind her, reminiscent of the song’s single cover and immediately transporting the audience to her said island. No matter how small she may seem in person, there is absolutely no reason to underestimate the powerhouse vocals that come out of Polachek. Belting out high and low notes demonstrate how she’s drawn comparisons to indie icon Kate Bush. However, seeing Polachek at this performance proves she’s in a lane of her own.
As much success as she has seen, Polachek has a moment of vulnerability and shares with the audience how surreal it is to be performing at the Crystal Ballroom, revealing that she had been there years prior as an opener for Vampire Weekend. Never could she have dreamed what it would be like for her to be there as the headlining act.
As this dream came to life, Polachek stopped by at the Crystal Ballroom on her Spiraling Tour in support of her newest album, Desire, I Want to Turn Into You. The album came to us with the viral cover that she is quickly becoming known for, depicting her on a busy subway crawling forward towards a sand covered ground, determined to make it to her next destination.
This tour comes following her support on Dua Lipa’s Future Nostalgia Tour last spring, where Polachek unfortunately suffered an ankle injury and had to cancel the remaining tour dates. Thankfully, she has since healed and there’d be no way of knowing anything ever happened by the way she moves around, unconstrained by anything except for the edge of the stage.
Aside from the opening song, she played popular tracks from her album like “Bunny is a Rider” and “Sunset”, both amassing a combined 32 million streams on Spotify. Each song is brought to life by an immersive backdrop and accompanying lights that bring you into the singer’s world. Polachek also mixed in fan favorites from her 2019 album Pang, such as “Hit Me Where It Hurts”, “Door”, and the certified sleeper hit “So Hot You’re Hurting My Feelings”, that has been played over 84 million times.
She has been accompanied on tour by Brittney Parks, famously known as Sudan Archives. The artist played some of her biggest songs, like “Come Meh Way” and “Selfish Soul”, commanding the stage with her layered vocals and trusty violin. With her song “Freakalizer”, she was able to get the crowd involved and excited whether they knew her before or not.
After her own set was done, she returned to the stage with Polachek for one of her new songs “Blood and Butter”. Too many times a label will throw together two seemingly unrelated artists in an attempt to give them both some cross-promotion on a tour. However, the way they came together with Polachek’s voice and Sudan Archive’s heavenly violin showed without a shadow of a doubt how well the two acts go together for something we didn’t know we needed until now.
CAROLINE POLACHEK
Photos + Review by Carlos Hueso | Exclusively for Music, Why Not!