May be I should see Grimes again in better conditions, I cannot say I was very impressed by her Pitchfork-proclaimed-best-new-music title, but there were so many fans pushing, trying to climb over the barricades, so many people backstage obstructing the view, so many police officers trying to contain the crazy fans that it was hard to tell.
Obviously, Grimes is a very hot musical act, the crowd was totally insane around the stage at Make Music Pasadena, and the hype around her is really what you can imagine: a guy behind me jumped over the barricade and fell flat on concrete, because he wanted to bring her a rose… poor guy, I don’t think he even reached the stage as he was escorted by a security guard, meanwhile another fan succeeded to dance on stage for almost a full minute, before being caught too.
This was the kind of craziness around Canadian artist Claire Boucher’s set, and it’s true she looked cute, in a grungy-artsy-kind-of-way with her hot pink bangs, her Scottish print skirt, and her truck ‘Pussy’ cap, oh yeah, she is the one selling these pussy rings!
However, I had a hard time to concentrate on her synth-pop which seemed to be mostly built around some prerecorded samples and her voice, making the oddest prehistoric-beast ‘iiirck’ screams. And when she sang, it was hushed or dreamy-childish vocals (although nothing as cute as in her video ‘Oblivion’) pronouncing words-in-a haze over weird synth murmurs, loops and electronic beats. So the buried pop melodies within textured synth tones? Yeah may be, but I couldn’t tell I heard memorable melodies, it was gloomy and muddy, everything seemed indecipherable, hashed and matched, layered and looped,… but she danced well. A little bit like a child excited with a new toy, as she was bouncing around every time she was touching the synth, as if she had been electrocuted. All this stayed very gentle and soft while she looked very busy and confident behind her electronic table
The police was ready to shut down the show as people were pushing non-stop the barricades, and I don’t know if it is the reason why they didn’t let her do another song, despite the crowd loudly asking for it. There was more police than at a punk show and when it was over, I though it was a very short set, but not her fault!
She cites Beyoncé and Mariah Carey as influences, and declared that she wrote her new album ‘Visions’ after spending 9 days in total isolation, feeling she was channeling spirits, and receiving the music as a gift of God (she really said this!)… I didn’t really hear any of this or see any miracle in her performance though, but honestly, all these die-hard-carry-a-rose-to-the-stage fans were the biggest miracle around.
