ATP! Live Review: Sky Ferreira – University of Washington, Seattle Campus (5/17/2014)

College Arts & Entertainment committees are slowly realizing that concerts with big name headliners are what get students out of their dorm rooms. On an absolute whim, I found out that the University of Washington had booked Sky Ferreira for their Spring Fling concert. Being a husky (school mascot) myself, I was lucky enough to be able to attend the show.

The Drumheller fountain held the show outside on an amphitheater-style lawn where flower crowned students gathered around for a show in the sun. Seattle locals Tacocat began the festivities with pastel hairdos and girl powered beach-rock that would have made Best Coast proud. After them was Internet favorite Wavves. It’s always refreshing to hear solid punk sounds in an era of bigroom bass and copycat bangers. Wavves brought the energy up in the crowd and were the perfect segway in to the next band… get ready for it… STRFKR. If you’re not familiar with STRFKR, it’s probably because you don’t listen to dream-pop or smoke a ton of the reefer. But even if you don’t do any of that, they’re a band you should really have on your radar. STRFKR makes music with a fusion of such pulsating beats and glistening melodies you almost can’t believe it’s even possible. STRFKR covered the crowd in glittering sounds that left everyone wanting more.

But after all of that, there was still more party left. The woman of the hour hadn’t even come on stage yet. Sky Ferreira had been conquering the UK alongside Miley Cyrus on the Bangerz Tour. The fact that she took time out of the middle of her international tour schedule to play some college in Washington AND THEN fly back to the UK right after that same day was beyond impressive. She dove straight in to her set with her album opener "Boys." This was accompanied by fan-girl squeals (some from myself) and die-hards fist pumping to every lyric. This pretty much set the tone for the rest of her show.

The crowd continued to chant "It Ain’t Your Right" and "24 Hours" along with Ferreira as she glided across the stage wearing the most soft grunge outfit you’d expect from her; heeled combat boots, black pantyhose, a plaid romper, green army jacket and a black beanie to be exact. Her stage banter sadly consisted of her saying sorry that her equipment wasn’t working right but the crowd assured her that it was fine. She continued on with her set with her heavy-pulse track "Omanko." Personally it’s one of my favorites to listen to on the Night Time, My Time, but it’s going to be a while before I’ll be able to after experiencing it live. The same can be said for "I Blame Myself" after she played it. Both tracks are fan favorites on the album, but after hearing the true energy and passion from Ferreira live it’s going to be difficult for the recordings to compare.

She then pleased my junior year of high school when I heard the opening synth to "Lost in My Bedroom." One of the last remaining Ghost songs in her sets, Ferreira stripped away the heavy production from the track and replaced it with distorted guitars and live drums. Which is something my body was not ready for. The end of her set brought "You’re Not The One." This is where we saw Ferreira almost lose herself. The track is very dear to her, like all of her tracks to be honest, but in a certain way. She sang as if she was still yelling at the person she wrote the song about, which revealed a side of her that we don’t really see on the cover of Vogue or Nylon.

Sadly, all good things have to end, and Ferreira ended her set with the ever dreamy favorite "Everything Is Embarrassing." Another Ghost track that pleased the entire crowd. Overall, Sky Ferreira does not disappoint. The emotion and energy she emulated the whole show explains why she is more than just a pretty face on a line-up. Already working on her next album, it’s truly exciting to see what the future will have in store for this soft-grunge debutante.

Jordan Wyman