Lindsey Stirling >> Transcendence in Phoenix [Comerica Theatre]

Lindsey Stirling >> performed a desert homecoming show on Thursday night downtown at Comerica Theatre. The show also featured opening acts Olivia Somerlyn and Lights.

Lindsey Stirling >> Phoenix

The 28-years young Lindsey Stirling hails from Gilbert, Arizona, and it's no surprise that another huge crowd came to see her play a homecoming concert for the 3rd time in less than a year. Of course, not just because she's a local favorite but also because she's extremely talented in so many ways.

Ms. Stirling is a classically trained and amazing violinist. She also dabbles in singing and can dance very gracefully yet with a pop all whilst aggressively bowing the shit out of that fiddle. Her ballerina-like movements take her across each end of the stage with leg kicks and lofty jumps and sometimes in a hip-hop fashion synchronized alongside dancers or even her own pre-rendered dancing shadows behind her.

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But Lindsey's style is unique in that she plays alongside a drummer and keyboardist to create a very electronic sound, similar to dubstep on a lot of her compositions. There's classical bows combined with high tempo drums, synthetic buildups and powerful drops. The classical crossover that the strings needed in an artist is Lindsey Stirling. She even creates live tracks for a looping machine to drop layers upon layers of electro fiddle freshness although I think she has a long way to go to get to Reggie Watt status.

[related: Reggie Watts >> Live at the Crescent Ballroom]

The stage production and lighting were dope too. Each excerpt, song and medley featured a theme or story that made it seem as though we were witnessing the filming of that track's music video - which in some cases like 'Crystallize' and 'Take Flight' it actually was recreating a live version of the video. Lindsey told the audience that it's not uncommon for her to dream up the music video first and write the song from there. Throughout the night, she spoke about her writing technique, her life and various anecdotal pieces to her musical career. It was essentially a shotgun episode of VH1 Storytellers which should eventually happen because the world needs to get to know how this bubbly violinist does her thing and how she got here.

My favorite part of the night was hearing her tell the story of how 'Transcendence' originated. I always thought it was a sick track but I now have a new level of appreciation knowing where it came from, which she described as a new journey upward and away from a major lull of depression and self-loathing. It was special to hear about her most vulnerable moments and inspiring to hear how she harnessed the negative and turned her life around.

Big ups to Lindsey for making big splashes in a genre that hasn't broke through just yet. If you get the opportunity to see her perform live, don't miss it. You'll enjoy being immersed in the classical crossover Vevo playlist of acts that is a Lindsey Stirling show.

Setlist: Ascendance * Moon Trance * Master Of Tides * Shadows * Electric Daisy Violin * Elements * Assassin's Creed / Dragon Age / Halo / Skyrim / The Legend Of Zelda * Song Of The Caged Bird * Transcendence * Take Flight * Crystallize * Firefly * Roundtable Rival * Stars Align * Shatter Me * ENCORE: Beyond The Veil * Phantom Of The Opera

marc

marc

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