Queen Of Cool: Kim Gordon Takes Over First Avenue

I knew I was going to be in the presence of a legend on Wednesday night and, honestly, I was ready for it. Kim Gordon is a bona fide icon. From her work in Sonic Youth to her solo material, everything about this woman is something to be admired, and I was just so excited to bear witness to her greatness up close and personal and at one of my favorite places on the planet – First Avenue. I may have been tired, I may have been my normal level of completely and utterly stressed out and overwhelmed by work, but nothing was going to stop me from enjoying this show. That was my mentality as I walked into the legendary venue in downtown Minneapolis.

New York-based The Fiery Furnaces were the first and only opening act on Wednesday night. I was intrigued as the duo took the stage. Matthew Friedberger took his spot behind the keyboard, and Eleanor Friedberger stood behind the microphone as the siblings prepped to start the set. There wasn’t an intro, no welcoming regards, the duo just hopped right into their set, and I was instantly intrigued. The first thing that caught my ear was the piano. Michael’s fingers were flying across the pearly whites at a rapid speed and creating some truly lovely soundscapes that had nods to everything from classical to rock influences. When that piano met the vocals of Eleanor, the sound went from something I could follow to something a bit more artistic. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing. The Fiery Furnaces’ overall sound has this very art-rock kind of vibe to it. Was there a super-long song in their set? Was it a bunch of short songs that were performed without a break? I honestly don’t know, but I know that they had me intrigued.

Although intrigued, I’m not sure this group is for me. I’m not going to say it was because they were too avant-garde, because, truthfully, it was more artsy than avant-garde, but I will say that there were moments where I felt it was hard for me to really get lost in their world. I liked the almost stream-of-conscious style of the vocals and the way they had a bit of a spoken word vibe to them, but I found it hard to follow the actual words and find something to relate to. I know that you don’t have to relate to every lyric you hear, but when it comes to a band that’s maybe a bit out of my comfort zone, that’s something I look for, so I was searching every corner of every word, hoping to find something here, but just didn’t. On top of that, after a few moments of the piano, voice, and drum machine sound, I got it, and I feel like it never really changed. Don’t get me wrong, there were instrumental breaks here, and there were moments where the piano would take over with beautiful cascading runs of notes and other moments where you could feel a sense of emotion radiate from Eleanor as she sang, but beyond that, I just felt like there wasn’t a lot of dimension here, at least not the kind of dimension I was looking for. I’m not going to say I hated this set, it was more that I don’t think I understood it, and that’s okay. Sometimes music introduces you to a new world and makes you think rather than getting you hooked. That’s exactly what The Fiery Furnaces did with their set on Wednesday night, and I thank them for that.

So maybe the opening act on Wednesday night wasn’t quite my cup of tea, but the iconic Kim Gordon was up next, and the anticipation I was feeling to finally see her perform for the first time in my life was real. I didn’t do my research. Had I at least talked to a couple of friends who are of a different vintage than I am, I probably would have set myself up for success when it came to this show and what to expect as none of them seem surprised by my comments throughout the night, but I didn’t. I had walked into this show bright-eyed and bushy-tailed and instantly felt a bit let down by Kim Gordon’s performance.

As mentioned, Kim Gordon is absolutely a legend. She is best known for her work as a member of Sonic Youth, but she’s so much more than that. She has done a bit of everything, from being in experimental duo Body/Head to performing in Glitterbust, but this current era of Kim is based on solo work. I took a few minutes to listen to her newest album, ‘Play Me,’ earlier in the day. I know this is not something I typically do, and I would often consider this cheating (I really like going into my shows blind if possible), but I was just so excited to see this icon on stage that I couldn’t wait. The songs were interesting. They spanned a wide range of genres from an almost electronic hip-hop kind of vibe to a more singer-songwriter calmness. I was excited to hear all of that and more on stage on Wednesday night, and I did. We were treated to almost the entirety of the new album, minus just a few of the last songs. I loved hearing these new-to-me tracks live because I feel like seeing the band perform them just feet in front of me brought them to life, but that was not the case with Kim herself.

Look, I get it, Kim is not a spring chicken (and I mean that with all of the love in my heart). Not only is she over seventy years old at this point, but she has also been doing the music thing for nearly half a century, and, at some point, that will clearly take a toll on you. It’s not that she didn’t look great. She looked absolutely stunning and was clearly aging like the finest of wines, but it was more in her demeanor. From the first moment I got a glimpse of her, I just felt like I couldn’t tell if she actually wanted to be here, if she was just too cool for me to understand, or if it was a mixture of both of those things and more. There was just something about her energy that felt relaxed to a fault. I tried to chalk it up to the artistic genius of Kim. Maybe this was just a persona, or maybe she just wanted to make sure that every word and every note fit perfectly into the set, but that explanation didn’t feel right. I didn’t feel a fire of passion from her. Hell, I didn’t even feel a spark. Maybe I got a little something here and there, especially towards the end of the set, and when she had a guitar hanging from her neck and finally stepped away from the microphone, but there just wasn’t any razzle or dazzle. There was nothing that made me believe that she wanted to be on this stage performing, and that broke my heart.

The way she seemed to be reading each song from the music stand right in front of her was not what I expected. Again, I get it, she has been doing this for ages, and having the crutch of lyrics in front of her is not at all something I would judge, but it was more the way that she seemed to bury her eyes into the music stand rather than into the crowd. It wasn’t just reading the music; it was also the way that Kim seemed to be attempting to hide in the shadows of the stage. The lights were low, which, I know, is nothing new for a concert, but they were abnormally low, and I feel like Kim did a great job of remaining in the shadows while the lights would hit and feature the other members of her band. I didn’t mind this as I felt like the band members were doing the heavy lifting of this show and were truly spectacular with the way they added a little sparkle and glow to Kim’s performance. At the same time, I expected Kim to dazzle, not come off as this sort of hidden figure. Maybe she’s always been this way, and this is all just me being naive, but I just expected to be wowed by finally getting to see Kim in person, and, instead, I left feeling a bit disappointed and, quite frankly, ready for bed as I got zero energy from Kim or this show in general.

Clearly, Wednesday night was not what I wanted it to be. It was still an absolute honor to be in the presence of Kim Gordon, and it’s not at all something that I regret, but I just wish this show had been what I wanted it to be. Maybe this is me being selfish, maybe I was reading and interpreting this show all wrong, but either way, this wasn’t my favorite night of live music.