On April 1, MEC hosted the spring concert and brought us the gift of Lizzo. An alternative hip hop star, rapper and floutist, Lizzo is a musical phenomenon based out of Minneapolis. She is currently touring her latest major label EP “Coconut Oil,” which was released in 2016.
The concert opened with the campus band Bad Advice Club. The opening act’s set included some original songs as well as popular hits like Amy Winehouse’s “Valerie,” and “Sunday Candy” by Donnie Trumpet & The Social Experiment, which featured guest musicians such as trumpet sensation Conlan Campbell ’18. Their performance was energetic and stood out due to the impressive vocals of Ben Dyleuth ’17, which hyped up the crowd in preparation for the long-awaited appearance of Lizzo.
Sophia Eris (Lizzo’s DJ) played an awesome set to introduce Lizzo after a few technical difficulties, which she resolved with the Pause crew. The group brought their own lights and equipment, which accounted for some of the difficulty.
Eventually Lizzo’s dancers came on stage followed by the group’s namesake, who began her set with “Worship,” from her new EP. Eris dropped the beats, sang back up vocals and joined in dancing. Lizzo was of course the lead vocalist, and she had four other dancers on stage who joined in during various songs. Their performance was expertly choreographed and included one of the dancers performing a handstand split and Lizzo twerking up a storm.
Lizzo spoke to the audience frequently and boasted about her “all female” crew, as well as reassuring everyone that even though the stress of going to school can be overwhelming, sometimes all you need is a little “Coconut Oil” and self-love.
When introducing the song “‘Scuse Me,” Lizzo spoke about the importance of loving yourself in a world where there are so many expectations about body-image and physical appearance.
She addressed the women in the audience, and told them to unite and form a strong bond with other women in order to achieve success. She also addressed remarks to the men in the audience, telling them that if they support women, great things can happen. Essentially, Lizzo is not only a goddess for her musical talents, but for her wisdom as well.
The concert came to an end too soon, but not after Lizzo sang “Good as Hell” to finish the set. She introduced the song by getting fired up about the man who inspired it, a guy who tried to play her in the past. The audience screamed various profanities about the mystery playboy, no doubt remembering their own bad experiences in the dating scene.
When Lizzo left the stage, everyone kept screaming for an encore, which she gracefully gave. As the crowd left the Pause, the words “life-changing,” “empowering” and “incredible” could be heard among the crowd to describe her performance. The only thing missing from the concert was Lizzo’s flute, which several students anticipated hearing. Nonetheless, she put on a great show.
A big thank you is in order to MEC and the Pause crew for bringing us one of the best spring concerts we’ve had.
sovere1@stolaf.edu
