Lizzo @ The Echoplex 1/20/17
If self-love is, as Audre Lorde put it, an act of political warfare, then Melissa âLizzoâ Jefferson delivered a sonic D-Day to the Echoplex this past Friday.
Decked out in a sequined robe lined with pink feathers, Jefferson stormed the stage alongside her âbig grrlsâ and DJ Sophia Eris. Opening with the brassy âWorshipâ, she demanded our love from the get-go, something the crowd was more than eager to throw her way. With two full-length LPs and an EP under her belt, the twin cities girl blasted through a collection of tracks ranging from fresh to favorites; watching her and Eris nod along to âBatches and Cookiesâ after three-plus years of performing it still feels as charged as it did not even a year ago.
Given the nature of the day, Jefferson made self-care the battle-cry of the evening. âIâm still trying to learn how to do this myself,â she admitted, but it fits her oh-so-well. Not once, but twice, she excused herself (âScuse Meâ) to feel herself, encouraged by the raves of the crowd.
As strong as she appeared, Jeffersonâs most compelling feats actually came across as she got brutally honest. The highlight of the evening was felt in the vodka drenched sorrows of âBother Meâ, specifically the âHide And Seekâ warbles that conclude it. To see such a ferocious, full-bodied woman explore her heartbreak with the same confidence as her swagger felt like someone reading their diary over a loudspeaker. Every muscle she flexed on âDeepâ, âScuse Meâ, or âGood As Hellâ was met with an equal emotional catharsis on âHumanizeâ and âMy Skinâ, a track she promised always to play for the reaction it garners from fans. But seriously, everything she played that evening elicited the same, rapturous applause from the audience as the world finally realized this girl truly towers over all of it.
âBigger than the sun and the moonâ doesnât even come close.