The air was thick with breathless anticipation as thousands of fans packed into London’s massive OVO Arena Wembley for the first of Mitski’s three sold-out shows in the city. After a long five-year hiatus from touring, the cult-favorite indie singer-songwriter had finally returned to claim her rightful place on arena stages across the globe with her searing, deeply intimate brand of indie rock.
As the house lights dimmed, a deafening roar spread through the cavernous Wembley venue in waves – a battle cry from Mitski’s fiercely devoted fanbase who had been awaiting this moment for far too long. When the petite 32-year-old Japanese-American artist finally emerged alone on the stark stage awash in moody lighting, you could have heard a pin drop amongst the captivated audience.
For the next 90 transfixing minutes, Mitski would take her fans at Wembley on an emotional odyssey through her rich discography spanning critically acclaimed albums like Bury Me at Makeout Creek, Puberty 2, and her latest thunderous breakout offering Laurel Hell. Between hypnotic croonings and explosive full-band crescendos, she held the audience systematically hostage – delivering each line and lyric with an almost frightening commitment and gravitas, unlike anything you’d expect from pop or rock music today.
The Make-Out Creek Opening Salvo
Kicking off the set with the slow-burning opening triplet from 2014’s Bury Me at Makeout Creek, Mitski immediately commanded the audience’s full attention and submission. Her haunting vibrato narrating the desperate lyrics of “First Love/Late Spring” filled the arena with eerie, spine-tingling energy as fans hung on her every utterance. The extended, fever-pitched shriek that capped off “I Don’t Smoke” only further signaled the depths of raw vulnerability she was willing to explore on stage.
In many ways, these early tracks showcased the performative intensity and musical dexterity that would come to define the full show. Mitski danced with wild, disjointed movements one minute, before returning to an almost meditative stillness the next – drawing viewers deeper into her intricate emotional realm with each dramatic shift.
A Career-Spanning Rockdown
While she may have burst into the mainstream consciousness with the critical and commercial success of Laurel Hell, Mitski’s setlist was a far-reaching, deeply personal journey across her full seven-album career. Throughout the night, she touched on all of her major releases, each represented with its own series of tightly woven suite-like songs thematically channeling the heart and soul of its respective record.
Fan favorites like the cathartic scream-a-long “Your Best American Girl” and synth-pop haymaker “Nobody” were delivered back-to-back with jarringly intimate tracks like the grungy “Once More to See You” – a thrilling exercise in emotional whiplash. But through it all, Mitski’s authenticity and vulnerability remained front and center as she guided the audience on a shared cathartic release.
For 2016’s beloved Puberty 2, which many regard as her seminal creative breakthrough, Mitski reeled off a five-song barrage of highlights that reached a feverish peak with “My Body’s Made of Crushed Little Stars.” Here she displayed the full power of her captivating vocals, viciously snarling out the opening lines “I don’t need any more friends / They’re all weird and I’m trying to sleep” before transitioning to a chilling whisper.
Of course, Laurel Hell received its deserved pride of place as well. The sold-out London crowds sang and swayed in mass communion to standouts like the irresistible pop ditty “Love Me More” and muscular piano rocker “Heat Lightning.” However, the guttural emo anthem “Stay Soft” arguably emerged as the set’s overall climax, with Mitski writhing on the floor at the height of vocal and emotional intensity.
The dazzling light show and impeccable sound mix elevated the in-the-moment engagement and raw visceral impact to arena-ready levels. However, it was Mitski’s transcendent ability to seduce fans into surrendering to her inner demons that transformed the live experience into something unexpectedly spiritual and profound.
The Mitski Mystique Rolls Into Edinburgh
Fresh off her blockbuster trio of long-awaited sold-out London performances, the mystique and momentum surrounding Mitski’s current Renaissance rolls on to Scotland. There, the indie cult heroine has a hotly anticipated gig scheduled for May 26th at the Edinburgh International Festival Theatre.
Given her meteoric popularity and string of captivating gigs across England over the past week, it’s all but certain Mitski’s Edinburgh stop will sell out as throngs of fans clamor to experience her tour’s transcendent mystique firsthand. Those fortunate enough to secure tickets to the intimate Festival Theatre performance should prepare themselves for an unforgettably visceral showcase of songwriting brilliance and naked vulnerability from an artist truly operating at the peak of her powers.
While exact setlist details remain under wraps, if Mitski’s recent London setlist is any guide, Edinburgh audiences will likely bear witness to a similarly expansive, soul-baring career retrospective pulling from all corners of the singer’s rich discography. From the dizzying catharsis of “Stay Soft” and “Your Best American Girl” to Laurel Hell’s irresistible anthems “Love Me More,” “The Only Heartbreaker,” and “Should’ve Been Me” – the sonic journey promises to be as profoundly personal as it is arena-ready.
For the uninitiated seeking to glimpse the magic of Mitski live for the first time, the chance to do so in the Edinburgh International Festival Theatre’s intimate 1900-seat environs should prove a revelation. While the vast OVO Wembley arena showcased the sheer scale of Mitski’s rapidly growing fanbase, the singer’s particular gifts – her shape-shifting vocals, preternatural talents for storytelling, and unbridled emotional intensity – have always felt most ideally suited for more compact theater settings.
There, cradled in the warmth of like-minded diehard devotees, longtime fans and newcomers alike will undoubtedly surrender to the full mesmeric power of Mitski’s alternately snarling and shimmering indie rock spiritualism. By the time she sings the final biting lyric and departs the Edinburgh stage, surely many new converts will have been born.
The Next Chapter of the Mitski Saga
In many ways, this arena run across the UK represents the start of a wildly overdue vindication lap and commercial coronation for Mitski Miyawaki, whose artistry and longstanding cult status have finally begun to penetrate the mainstream like never before. But for an artist with such a palpable allergy to fame – visibly recoiling during the rare moments of unguarded media spotlight – this sudden widespread global applause cannot be an entirely comfortable experience.
Still, with profoundly moving masterpieces like Laurel Hell and Puberty 2 now cemented as 2020s generational indie touchstones representing whole swaths of young listeners, Mitski now stands rightfully anointed as one of the most vital creative voices in modern music. How she will contend with wading further into the crushing embrace of mass popularity remains to be seen. But if her latest tour has proven anything, it’s that even operating on arena-sized stages, Mitski remains remarkably transfixing at channeling raw, unflinching intimacy and becoming a vessel for universal emotional truth.
Whatever comes next, Mitski’s cult following can rest assured that any future offerings from their mercurial muse will almost certainly continue to provide the sort of shattering authenticity and catharsis that has defined her best work. And for now, expectations remain stratospheric that her remaining UK dates – including that hotly anticipated intimate gig in Edinburgh – will only reinforce Mitski’s newly minted status as a generational tour de force.