Weyes Blood at Brooklyn Steel (photo by Emilio Herce)
About halfway through the first of her two sold-out dates at Brooklyn Steel on March 3rd, Natalie Laura Mering, known professionally as Weyes Blood, asked the crowd to guess the astrological makeup of her band. I guessed correctly that she, and most of her touring party, was made up of Geminis. I’m possibly biased as I am one myself (sorry!), but perhaps sharing the spatial twins is what drew me so deeply to Mering’s music in the first place. She added “I’m a Gemini, but I self-identify as a Scorpio, I just want to be more fucked up,” which, fair.
There is a deep vein of wry humor that runs through Weyes Blood’s musical catalog, which is lush and technicolor, often orchestral in delivery, but can also be plain-spoken and heartbreaking (the lyric “true love is making a comeback. For only half of us, the rest just feel bad” comes to mind). Throughout her career, but especially on her two most recent albums, 2019’s Titanic Rising (one of my favorite albums of all time) and 2022’s And In The Darkness, Hearts Algow, Mering has perfected this sound, making masterful songs and albums that are instantly recognizable as her own, but which also feel like they could have been unearthed, untouched since the late 60s, on reels in a Laurel Canyon attic.
Weyes Blood at Brooklyn Steel
Weyes Blood’s set consisted almost entirely of songs from these two albums, opening with “It’s Not Just Me, It’s Everybody” and “Children of the Empire” the first two tracks from And In The Darkness, Hearts Aglow. Favorites from Titanic Rising which made the set included “Andromeda,” “Movies,” and “A Lot’s Gonna Change,” and I must say, as someone who listens to that album compulsively (I will need to replace my vinyl copy soon), these cuts sounded fantastic live, as good or better than their recorded versions, credit to her incredible band and impeccable vocals.
We were allowed to shoot songs 8-10 of the set, a nice change of pace from the usual first three from pit, and especially special given my love of the songs “Everyday” and “Wild Time.” It admittedly made taking photos more difficult though as I could not help but sing along during these, and applaud at the end of each one (I have no chill) instead of switching lenses.
Weyes Blood closed the performance with Something to Believe and Bad Magic, the latter being the sole song not from her latest albums and one dedicated to Brooklyn, as she wrote it while completely miserable and living on Montrose Ave. I do hope Mering had a nicer time this visit, she sure deserves it considering how great of a performance this weekend’s show was.
Whistler Molly Lewis opened the show with a unique and interesting performance.
Scroll down for setlist, fan shot videos, pics of the show (photos by Emilio Herce)
Setlist: It’s Not Just Me, It’s Everybody, Children of the Empire, A Lot’s Gonna Change, God Turn Me Into a Flower, Andromeda, Grapevine, A Given Thing, Everyday, Wild Time, Twin Flame, Movies, Hearts Aglow Encore:
Something to Believe, Bad Magic
MOLLY LEWIS
WEYES BLOOD
