Getting to know the real Andra Day with a riveting performance at Ardmore Music Hall

Andra Day | Photo by Wendy McCardle for WXPN | wendymccardle.com

You already know Andra Day, the rising R&B newcomer with an impenetrable retro style. You might call it a Lucille Ball-meets-Rosie The Riveter look. Perhaps that look caught your eye on the Grammy’s, where she earned her first nomination for her acclaimed debut, Cheers To The Fall. Or maybe you know “Rise Up”, the inspirational tearjerker that has become Day’s biggest single to date. But if you weren’t in attendance at her show at Ardmore Music Hall on Thursday night, you don’t really know Andra Day.

“Tonight is a conversation,” Ms. Day declared after beginning her set with a one-two punch of “Forever Mine” and “Gold”, the first two tracks off Cheers To The Fall. “But we’ll speak through music,” she continued. One had to wonder if her pre-show activities included eavesdropping on the audience, which was peppered with conversations about building connections through music, namely through A Tribe Called Quest. We are all currently mourning the recent loss of one of Tribe’s founding members, Phife Dawg. A group of hip hop aficionados beside me waxed nostalgic on the first time they heard Phife’s flow. “I used to be a nerd, but when I first heard Tribe, that gave me a reason to talk to the cool kids. Like, ‘Oh, you like this too? Can I sit with you at lunch?'” Another voice echoed, “They were all about building bridges”.

This is how we spent the first few moments getting to know Andra Day, by building bridges through shared musical tastes. “Do you like Nina Simone?” she asked before launching into a spoken word piece about social justice, segueing into her cover of Simone’s “Mississippi Goddam”, which appears on Nina Revisited, a compilation of tributes to Simone. The vintage vibes were strong as Day belted her warm vibrato into a handmade condenser microphone, looking like jazz royalty in a mink stole over red and gold paisley silk pajamas. (Side note: I’ve never seen anyone rock a crowd in their jammies, but if anyone can do it, and look impeccable while doing it, it’s Andra Day). With her hair piled high under a headscarf, winged liner blazing across her eyelids, many rings on every finger and giant hoop earrings, she appeared as a modern “Lady Day”, if you will.

Deliberately changing her positioning from sitting on a steam trunk to sitting on a stool to standing, Day was in command of the set’s emotional flow. Remaining emotive and dramatic as she sang, Day added an almost theatrical flair to her performance. In turn, the last note of every song felt like a curtain call and each subsequent song serving as the next act of a play. Day even seemed to change face for each performance. Midway through the set, she quite literally changed face, taking out a pack of facial cloths to wipe away her signature red lip and dark eyeliner. “I just can’t perform this next song with a mask on”, she declared before taking a seat on a stool for a reimagined cover of Kendrick Lamar’s “No Makeup (Her Vice)”. At that point, all armor was off for performer and audience alike and we could lose ourselves within the spirit of the music.

Day effortlessly channels a vast range of influences, from the High Priestess of Soul to K. Dot himself, but never does she exert effort into being anyone other than herself. Backed by a four-piece band, her live sound is organic, raw almost in comparison to the pristine production of Cheers To The Fall. But thanks to keyboardist Charles Jones, guitarist Dave Wood, bassist Nando Raio and drummer Shay Godwin, there is a sonic layer cake to sink your teeth into. Together, the band traverse terrain from doo-wop to hip hop, all the while expertly avoiding the disjointed or schizophrenic feel that plagues so many bands trying to make sense of the desire to create a diverse yet focused sound in a post-genre industry.

The truly transcendent part of the evening came during the encore, during which Day and her band delivered a cover of Queen’s “I Want It All”. The band claimed the prog rock classic as their own smoothly grinding, deeply grooving jam, leaving the crowd howling like a pack of wolves under a full moon. Day gave into her own primal urges as well, dropping to her knees to claw her way across the stage before collapsing backward, the paisley print of her silk pajamas camouflaging her against the pattern of the oriental rug spread across the stage.

Andra Day was also joined by Conrad Sewell, an Australian native who easily warmed up the crowd with catchy pop hooks and a Michael Hutchence-meets-Usher vibe. Before Sewell’s set, we were treated to an acoustic performance by Philly’s own Saleka Night Shyamalan. Yes, she is the daughter of director M. Night Shyamalan and clearly she has inherited her father’s way with words. At only 19 years of age, the classically-trained pianist is already a prolific lyricist, demonstrating a knack for writing melodies that echo in your head long after the performance has ended. It’s been almost 48 hours since the show, but I’m still thinking about the “I know you work alone, but teach me your tongue so I can make this place my home” refrain of “Mr. Universe”, which Saleka returned to the stage to perform with Andra Day’s band. There was something about Saleka that reminded me of the first time I heard Alicia Keys. It wasn’t so much a sonic similarity as it was the prodigy-turned-rebel spirit we found the first time we heard Keys sing “Fallin'”. Saleka performed a similarly titled song, “Finally Fallin'” and I’m predicting it will be on all of your iPods and Spotify playlists very soon. How’s that for a twist ending?

Setlist
Intro
Forever Mine
Gold
Mississippi Goddam
Honey or Fire
Gin N Juice
No Makeup (Kendrick Lamar cover)
Only Love
Rear View-Red Flags-Rear View
Michael Jackson Medley
Charles-Change is gonna come
Mistakes
Goodbye Goodnight
Rise Up
City Burns

Encore:
I Want It All (Queen cover)