On Wednesday, San Luis Obispo was graced with the presence of California’s own Weyes Blood and Sam Burton at SLO Brew Rock, and it was nothing short of a spiritual experience.
Weyes Blood invited all attendees on a journey from outer space to the deep underwater and back to Earth with rich and full vocals, nostalgic lyrics and mesmerizing sensory visuals.
Natalie Mering was joined by four band members on the SLO Brew Stage — a guitarist, bassist, pianist and drummer. Mering joined the accompaniment on occasion, switching between the keyboard and the acoustic guitar.
Mering and the band moved throughout the night with charisma and confidence and showcased Weyes Blood’s well-known hits, deep cuts and even teased a bit of upcoming music. Weyes Blood performed a multitude of songs from different eras of her discography, but most songs were drawn from her 2019 record “Titanic Rising.”
The show opened with the powerful and poetic “A Lot’s Gonna Change,” immediately immersing the audience into a world outside of their own — something unique and special to Weyes Blood’s musicianship. Moving seamlessly from song to song, Mering conversed with the crowd, and strangers gently swayed together as one — something she dubbed “soft moshing.”
Within the fleetingly stunning 12-track set, Weyes Blood seemed to pause the continuum of space and time. A few of the highlights were the rendition of “Everyday” (that Weyes Blood described as “like, the only kind-of upbeat song we have”), the band’s cover of The Hollies’ “The Air That I Breathe” and, of course, “Andromeda” — a song about hesitance and the emotional intimacy of accepting love — which had the entire room singing along.
The final track before the encore, “Movies,” started out with an intriguing hazy synth that crescendos into what could be seamlessly incorporated into an interstellar-esque soundtrack — a heartbreakingly beautiful ballad about longing to be the center of your own universe, rich with backing violins and rhythmic percussion.
The show ended with a performance of an unreleased track titled “A Given Thing,” demonstrating Weyes Blood’s constantly evolving lyricism.
Equally broody and beautiful, Weyes Blood and company created an extra-terrestrial atmosphere during this melancholic, intimate and memorable show.
