Sometimes you just need the right show to pick up your spirits. Last week Samia and Raffaella made their way to Chicago for two nights of fantastic performances that not only brightened everyone's day at Thalia Hall, but truly made it feel like summer. Touring in support of Bloodless, Samia really gave the packed and dedicated crowd everything they could have asked for on night one!
Raffaella's opening was a stunner as she and her band let loose with an invigorating set. Kicking things off with "drama queen." and "Man of Your Dreams" was a great way to get the crowd going as both songs are teeming with energetic pop vibes. Raffaella's stage presence definitely amped up song's reception as she strutted, danced, and even did the splits around stage, adding a little rawness to the more pristine pop sounds. The whole love aspect of it certainly added a welcome amount of grunge to the whole tracklist.
The set was full of unreleased songs that matched up incredibly well with her better known tracks. One of the unreleased highlights was "Courtney," which Raffaella introduced with her love of Courtney Love's music talent and... other things. "I can't believe I said her great tits first" she lamented, but the crowd's love for Courtney and Raffaella washed any embarrassment away. The back to back sequencing of "Polly Pocket" and "Blonde" had the crowd at their most lively before closing up her set with another unreleased song that I can't wait to hear again.
The stage set up for Samia was as summery as summer gets: lawn chairs were strewn across the stage, light bulbs on stands gently illuminated the darkest parts of the stage, and an ice chest with "Samia's Cooler" and a few shrimp caricatures drawn on it sat just left of center stage. It was as if we stumbled upon Samia's camping site and thankfully were met with a warm welcome. The set started off with an older song in "Triptych" before letting Bloodless tracks "dare and "Fair Game" take the spotlight.
Samia played the entirety of her latest album Bloodless throughout the night, really letting the album spread its wings and delight the adoring crowd. The album is just over two months old and yet it feels like a tried and true set of songs. Samia just has a way of making these incredibly addicting songs that grab hold of you and refuse to get out of your head. Sometimes the songs are going to capture you like "Bovine Excision" and "Carousel" with their sweeping vocals and soaring instrumentation. But even the quieter tracks like "Proof" stand out in the sea rousing tracks.
Samia somehow was able to put things into another gear during the second half of her set. The undoubted standout of the night "Kill Her Freak Out" was what set it off. The typically soft song about the one that got away retained the melancholic pain of the studio track but Samia let the crowd turn the sad rage into fury in the song's chorus. "I hope you marry the girl from your hometown" she sang before the audience interjected at the top of their lungs "And I'll fucking kill her / And I'll fucking freak out." It was a cathartic unleashing of emotions, endless weights falling off every screaming person's shoulders.
The rest of the set continued the immaculate rush of songs off Bloodless: "Spine Oil" raised the energy up again before it was capped off brilliantly by the sudden mid word finish of "Craziest Person" stunned even the knowing crowd. "Lizard" flowed beautifully into the Raffaella inspired "North Poles". "Fit and Full" was the lone non-Bloodless track at the end of the set, offering up bright pop before the proper set and Bloodless closer "Pants" could envelope the crowd in its tender sounds of second guessing and not knowing who you are any more.
Samia returned for an encore featuring favorites from her first two albums The Baby and Honey. The ethereal qualities of " Pool" and "Is There Something in the Movies?" set the table for the final song of the night—"Honey" with its repeating mantra of "It's all honey" sending everyone off with a delightful warm feeling.
All photos by Julian Ramirez.
