“Dance. Dance! Fucking DANCE!”
With a contagious carefree attitude and guitar riffs reverberating off First Avenue’s iconic walls, King Princess commanded the crowd to have a good time on Thursday night.
Kicking off her “Pussy is God” tour in Minneapolis, Mikaela Straus and her band (consisting of two guitarists and a drummer) came in with a bang and kept the energy potent throughout the one-hour set.
With a majority of her songs coming off the band’s upcoming album, King Princess made it known that she was here for good vibes and good vibes only.
“I’m so thirsty … wait someone just told me in my ear that I have water up here. That’s so fierce! This tour is lit,” the NYC-native giddily shouted. The crowd then erupted in claps and screams of “oh my god.”
Accompanying the band on stage for a select few songs, drag queens shined with icy blue crystal outfits reflecting the iconic blue-purple fluorescent hum of First Ave’s lights.
Songs like “Pussy Is God,” “Upper West Side” and the obvious “1950” evoked celebration even further. The band was jumping around, King Princess was doing karate-esque kicks and the crowd kept bouncing.
All this joyous energy made it hard to not feel love and tingling happiness while watching everyone groove to the vibes coming from the crowd and performers. The music itself, though? Perfectly mediocre.
This is coming from a hip-hop head, so take this with a grain of sparkle … but King Princess played a show that, musically, could have been done by any high school garage rock band. Yes, she can sing, but where is the uniqueness of her songs?
At just 20 years old, there is plenty of room for King Princess to grow.
Maybe a new flow, unique riffs, avant-garde sounds? I’ll leave the mode of development up to the blossoming band. Something, though, needs to give the crew a little more oomph.
I have no doubt that she will become a flawless artist and the band will take their rightful throne.
But until then, they lack a sonic individuality that is so needed in the saturated genre of new age alternative pop.
Luckily, tones and melodies are not the only ingredients in an enjoyable concert soup. Her lyrics? All there.
The Brooklyn musician has anthems for the LGBTQ+ community that so rarely has tunes to bump that represent them to the fullest. Volcanic cheers went up at every break in the music, and every lyric was known by the majority of the crowd.
Especially in a prideful city like Minneapolis, the night was special for tried-and-true fans.
“I’m going to bring my kids here. It’s so fucking lovely,” said King Princess.
And we’d be happy to see you again, too.
Grade: B
