At 8PM on a brisk Tuesday in March, an artist named Leikeli47 sauntered her way to the solo mic and wreaked the absolute best havoc I’ve seen from an opening act in quite some time. Face covered in a mask, this mysterious new artist got the crowd all kinds of hyped up while she aggressively spit and sang tracks from her repertoire. Leikeli47 had a relentless energy about her while delivering bop after bop, even going into a cover of INOJ’s classic dance track, “Love You Down.” Be on the lookout for Leikeli47 because with talent as incredible as hers, I expect big things happening very soon.
It had been a few years since I had seen Santigold so my expectations soared when the house lights came down again. The next hour and a half flew by extremely fast, while she sang her high energy set to the sold out San Diego crowd. After every new song started, an enormous burst of applause and shouts spewed from the crowd, which only proved the diversity and quality she brings to her music.
When I heard the opening notes of fave album track off 99¢, “Banshee.” I lost it. For the next three and a half minutes I surrendered myself to the bumping thumps and earworm melody, dripping sweat and giving no you know whats. Santi’s voice was in perfect condition and continued to impress for the whole set.
As I mentioned, she played so many great songs it’s difficult to pick another standout besides “Banshee” because they were all seriously so good and I was too focused on enjoying the set to even compare different songs. That being said, I had another minor meltdown when she started the dark, pulsating “Anne” from her debut album. During the chaotic “Creator “Santi invited up a bunch of the crowd onstage to help her out. The more laid back style of “Who Be Lovin’ Me” played extremely well live and had the entire audience swervin’ and swaying with her.
Between her amazing back up vocalists/dancers (who probably deserve a blog post all to themselves!), sweet video wall of kitsch grocery store shots, and bubble machine, Santigold ensures a pretty spectacular night full of talent and artistry. Keep it up Santigold! Catch her on the We Buy Gold Tour coming to a city near you. You can listen to 99¢ out now via Atlantic Records. You can also hear her music in a number of our Core and custom programming, including Cashmere, Feedback, and Half Pipe.
– Submitted by Tristan Bolden, Music Design