Santigold @ The Hollywood Palladium 3/31/16
Santigold’s latest tour, in support of her new record 99¢, is entitled the “We Buy Gold” tour; clearly, the audience at the Hollywood Palladium was buying it too.
Santi White appeared highly aware of the fickle business she partakes in, fame, yet such knowledge seemed to determine rather than deter Brooklyn’s finest. Against a backdrop of dollar store wares and bright colors, White sang and danced while garbed in logos and, by the end of the night, her own visage. She may be marketing herself as a self-conscious commodity, but as a commodity that continues to produce even after three full records.
Despite the disposable junk behind her, White appeared to be going for longevity, and succeeded. Her distinctive mix of a warble and wail exemplified itself early on in “Banshee,” a riot starter of a track; from her latest LP, it proved White to be an artist who has built rather than rested upon her older material. With three LPs under her belt, White possessed a wealth of material to cover, which she did. New tracks such as “Rendezvous Girl” and the ILoveMakonnen-assisted “Who Be Lovin Me” meshed well alongside classics fight songs like “GO!” and “Shove It.”
Throughout it all, it seemed like White enjoyed playing upon the dichotomy of herself as both a creator and a creation. She knew her own gold sells, and by association became gold in our eyes as well. But there’s nothing like gold to get one rushing, and a rush was exactly what everyone felt at Santigold last night.
