Free flower crowns & body glitter were passed around to everyone.
...and it was one of the best things ever! She played at the Zoo Amphitheater on July 2nd, 2018. I went with my coworker friend, Audrey, and it was my second Kesha concert. The first time I saw her, I went with my friend, Michelle, and she still spelled her name
Ke$ha. It was at the Gibson Amphitheater in Los Angeles in September of 2011. That was only seven short years ago but, boy how things have changed! All of us... Kesha, myself and Michelle... are completely different people now. It was rather amazing to see how Kesha has changed as a performer.
How it was in 2011.
The show she put on in 2011 was a
party - her set design screamed
grungy house party, she drank beer (instead of water) in between songs, she barely even sang her songs, there were backup singers & dancers everywhere and at the end of the show, she encouraged us to all go home with the people sitting next to us. At the time, Michelle & I were in our twenties and a party in LA was what we needed. I looked back at some old pictures and that concert was great.
Fast forward to the concert last week. Completely (COMPLETELY) different experience. Kesha sang all of the words to each one of her songs and she played the guitar! It was really neat to hear "rock" versions of her older pop songs, such as
Blah Blah Blah with electric guitar and an actual live band & vocals. Auto-tune and backing tracks were out and raw performances with instruments were in! There were still back up dancers, glitter and confetti but the show had purpose and meaning. She stopped in between songs to tell us about her struggles and encouraged us all to spread kindness. The visuals from the set design transported us onto Kesha's planet where she reminded us all to be ourselves, unapologetically and without shame.
Her set included a massive space shuttle which she walked out of adorned in a glittering white crown and cape. She started the show with her feminist anthem,
Woman. After that song, she explained a sticky predicament she was in - the Zoo Amphitheater does not allow cursing and will charge a fine to all artists who use swear words, but 99% of her songs include swear words. Being Kesha, she gave a huge middle finger to Zoo Amphitheater management and carried on with her foul language. I don't think it offended anyone. She sang many songs from her latest album but sprinkled in some of her old songs as well. She entered the space shuttle a few times and each time reemerged with a more colorful outfit. At the end of the night, she gave us a two song encore, including an extremely emotional rendition of her song
Praying, and showered us all in confetti.
I loved her performance in Los Angeles; as much fun as that was, I think I enjoy the 2018 version of Kesha so much more. As we go through change and the growing pains that accompany life, we often wish we were still young and carefree. But going to this concert reminded me of all the greatness that comes from our pain and experiences. We all weather our own personal storms and with the right mindset, we come out the other end stronger and braver. Thank you Kesha for reminding us of that.
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