Sky Ferreira Dodges Tech Problems at the Metro, But Loses Interest (and Almost Audience)

Hear ye! Hear ye! Let it henceforth be known that Sky Ferreira has a voice to be reckoned with.

Shuffling awkwardly on stage last Friday at the Metro Theatre for one of only two Splendour in the Grass sideshows, and without even acknowledging the crowd or their rapturous applause, the pint-sized pop powerhouse exploded into an anthemic rendition of '24 Hours'. The impressive intensity of this explosive opener was slightly undermined by Ferreira having to stop almost immediately so the sound engineer could fix the feedback thundering forth from the guitarist's amp. However, nothing if not a consummate professional, Ferreira immediately reset and — without missing a beat — all was forgotten as we were carried away by the Californian's angelic voice.

Having flawlessly punched out her opening number, all the lights were then cut and Ferreira left the stage without explanation (presumably to berate the sound engineer) and returned a minute or so later, muttering something inaudible that sounded vaguely apologetic. Now, normally these kinds of antics and a seeming disregard for the people who paid to see you perform would relegate an artist to the ill-fated realm of 'get the fuck over yourself', but it’s not often you see a performer whose flawless delivery is as pitch-perfect as their recordings. Ferreira is one such performer.

After completely switching lanes and launching into the toned-down industrial sound of 'Ain't Your Right', to a more than underwhelming response from the crowd, Ferreira admitted to being "very nervous". The earnestness with which she said it helped win back the crowd and gave the impression that of everyone there, Ferreira was being the hardest on herself.

From here on in, and with the aid of a truly mental backing band, Ferreira’s performance picked up considerably with crowd favourite 'I Blame Myself', eliciting an enthusiastic, but decidedly out-of-tune, singalong from the crowd. Incidentally, the audience — who appeared to consist exclusively of rabid underage fans intent on moshing despite the distinctly un-mosh-inducing music, and soon-to-be-settling-down thirty-somethings standing in the drinking section resolutely refusing to dance — somehow managed to overcome their antithetical approaches to being an audience and provide Ferreira with more positive feedback than the Metro's malfunctioning sound system.

While her near absolute silence throughout the set may have added to her indie-chanteuse allure, Ferreira’s lack of stage presence meant that every technical error was amplified (ba-doom-tish), and despite being out of her control, made her performance seem shambolic. As she seemed to lose interest in the show so did the audience, and not even crowd-surfing while smashing out 'Nobody Asked Me (If I Was Okay)' was enough to eventually win them back. And that's a real shame, because to do that without missing a single note takes genuine talent, if only it had been better showcased.

Image: Justin Ma (SITG)