Gig review: Five stars for magnificent Mitski in Dublin
Mitski thrilled the crowd at Vicar Street in Dublin on Monday night.
★★★★★
“Let’s get back into character,” said Mitski as she took a break to address her fans towards the end a rapturously otherworldly performance that lit up a dreary Monday night in Dublin.
The Japanese-American artist was true to her word and had soon slipped once again into a dervish-like groove, performing baroque high-kicks and Kate Bush-style runs-and-jumps, her baggy white outfit leaving fluttering outlines in the air.
Mitski (31) is not yet a household name. But she is a star – with a list of admirers that runs from Barack Obama to Harry Styles (who is taking her on tour this summer). And that cult following went super-nova when her music was embraced by TikTok during lockdown.
The Chinese social media platform is where music and dance come together. Much the same could be said of Mitski at Vicar Street. Scissor kicks and pirouettes were followed by a series of stylised boxer’s upper-cuts, as she gave physical expression to the tumult and turmoil driving her tempestuous lyrics.
These uncanny bops – more wuthering frights than Wuthering Heights – were allied to tunes that crackled with a gothic punch (not even what sounded like a fire-alarm going off briefly during Goodbye, My Danish Sweetheart could knock her off her stride). Love Me More combined Florence and the Machine-esque vastness with 4am, pounding-the-walls anxiety while Townie was fronted by emo-style guitars.
The angst was great. But the songs were even better. Her pop chops were underscored by Stay Soft, a favourite from her fourth album, Laurel Hell (which hit the top ten last February).
That record was a rumination on the grind of making it in the recording industry – and its corrosive effect on Mitski. But she didn’t seem in the least retiring or disillusioned as she soaked up the audience’s love at Vicar Street and reflected it back as a series of catharsis-fuelled vignettes.
Amid this five-star fervour, and for all the adoration directed her way, it was hard not to suspect that the Mitski story is only beginning.
