Concertgoers in Fenway Thursday night were treated to a bit of unprompted advice from singer-songwriter Mitski.
“I’ve noticed that Boston as a city is incredibly deep and complex and that’s beautiful,” the musician said on stage. “But have y'all as a city considered therapy? And talking to a professional about your sad, deep, complex long history?”
Mitski didn't elaborate on what led her to offer those words, but emotional probing is partly why fans love the solo indie pop artist who is currently on tour supporting her seventh studio album, “The Land Is Inhospitable and So Are We.”
Instead of doing one-night stops in city arenas, she's opted for multi-night runs at smaller theaters — including four nights at Boston’s MGM Music Hall, which kicked off Feb. 15 and wraps up Sunday, Feb.18.
Mitski perhaps has good reason to suggest therapy to fans; her skyrocketing fame over the past few years has led to undesirable concert behavior, as one fan on X (formerly Twitter) explained:
i wont be nice about it, yall are so weird for barking, meowing and just overall yelling weird stuff at mitski concerts like asking her to have your babies.u ppl need to start acting normal and if u wanna have a viral tiktok moment that bad, just post a clip of ur cat and move on
— mitski's archive (@mitskithoughts) February 1, 2024
Fans lining up for the show last night were well aware of the bad concert etiquette.
Federico Mills, who was first in line for the concert after traveling from New Hampshire, described the way some people act at Mitski shows as “inappropriate.”
“People shouldn't be acting like that at a concert,” Mills said. “I think people should be respectful as it's proper etiquette. I'm younger, but I think after COVID, concert etiquette kind of went downhill. And people kind of forgot how to act in a public space."
Iz Shields finds the behavior “super weird.”
“If you're shouting in between one song ‘I love you’, I'm not going to do it, but I can understand it,” Shields said. “But shouting things that are disrespectful — just don’t be weird! It makes me feel bad. I hope a lot of artists don't experience that their fan base is turning into just a bunch of weird people yelling.”
Eli Onyeabor said the disruptions only take away from the intimate performance Mitski puts on.
“Her performances are very put together, they’re fluid, there's her interpretive dancing and elements of a story,” Onyeabor said. “When people are in the middle interrupting with things that have nothing to do with the concert, I feel like it's disrespectful. We're here for a show. We're not here to hear you scream.”
But for most concert goers, they were ready to hear Mitski with joyful anticipation.
Sharon-based parents Jeff and Anne Garrett came with their 12-year-old daughter Gwen.
“Her music is really phenomenal,” Anne Garrett said. “I think she's one of the best songwriters of our time. We've been to one of her concerts before, and it was so tremendously moving. I think, especially with everything going on in the world right now, any time that you can be moved by an artistic or a musical experience, it's really important to experience that.”
For the Garrett family, spending time at concerts by artists like Mitski is their “main hobby” as a family. They’ve been bringing Gwen to concerts since she was six weeks old.
“I really like how Mitski's music is always up to interpretation,” Gwen Garrett said. “There's no one meaning. The fans can always come up with their own. I really love that about Mitski.”
Inside the three-tiered MGM Music Hall, rows of seats covered what usually constitutes the general admission floor. A massive curtain was drawn across the gilded stage and folks settled in with friends, palpably excited as they took selfies and giggled together. Despite the energy in the room, concert-goers remained largely seated until the encore, choosing to take in the experience from the comfort of a chair.
When Mitski took the stage, some concert-goers heckled with cries of "mom" while others expressed their adoration — but these were quickly and consistently shut down. The artist, at one point in the show, recognized the enthusiasm from the crowd, for better or worse. She responded to one impassioned cry by letting the audience know that she couldn’t hear them but “loved the enthusiasm.”
Mitski also took opportunities throughout the show to share other tidbits, including exciting news that she had been an answer on Jeopardy just a few hours earlier. She remarked that that moment meant more than awards nominations or industry accolades.
mitski was featured on a question in the 15 february 2024 episode of jeopardy pic.twitter.com/lFtVTa74ds
— ຸ (@MitskiCentral) February 16, 2024
As for the stage itself, the set-up was modest with two chairs that the singer moved around intermittently and reflective fragments suspended on strings that descended from the ceiling to dance with the light. Her touring band was arranged around the feature in the center of the stage.
Re-imagined renditions of hits and deep-cuts alike brought new depth to familiar songs, often with a country twang or redone tempo. Fans said they were bracing themselves for their favorite tracks, which were still wrought with the artist's lyrical emotion and vulnerability.
“Mitski touches the deep sadness within all of us,” Jeff Garrett said. “And brings it up to the light and holds it there for us to look at and admire. I mean, how could you not love that?”
