“Annie DiRusso is for the girls,” is the thought that kept running through my mind last Sunday, seeing her perform at the Vivarium in Milwaukee. Of course there were a few male fans in attendance (a few of them even rocking out enthusiastically in the front row), but the audience was overwhelmingly young women and non-binary people. Over the course of the night, we danced, laughed, cried, and made new friends. I’ve been to a lot of concerts, and I don’t know that I’ve ever felt so connected to other fans in the crowd who I hadn’t spoken to before the show started. All of this was possible because Annie’s music combines emotional vulnerability with upbeat instrumentals in such a way that audience members feel safe enough to shake off their insecurities and inhibitions, losing themselves in pure joy and community.
Overall, the show was part confessional, part stand-up set, part high-energy rock show. Annie walked out to her band screaming along to the discordant “Derek Jeter”, and immediately went into “Ovid,” the opening track of her recently-released debut album Super Pedestrian. The acoustic arrangement of this song really makes her voice stand out in a gloriously harmonious way, but the highlight has got to be the vocal guitar solo. Yes, you read that right — there’s a solo at the end of “Ovid” that sounds like a guitar, but it’s really just Annie making guitar sounds with her voice into a microphone with a filter on it. I can imagine how much fun this must be to perform, it was a delight to watch. The next song on the setlist was “Legs,” the first single from Super Pedestrian. Those of us who have ever experienced an emotionally devastating situationship will understand — there is something so healing about screaming the chorus of this song: “I am loosening my grip / I don’t give a shit if we fuck or we date.” Annie and her band recently gave an incredible performance of “Legs” live on Jimmy Kimmel, which I highly recommend checking out.
Before playing the next song, “Good Ass Movie,” Annie gave a long introduction in which she told the story of School of Rock (one of her favorite movies) as if it had happened to her. By the time she started talking about impersonating her roommate who was a substitute teacher, most of the audience had caught on. When she said she entered the students in a battle of the bands contest, the room was in stitches. Annie is not just an incredible musician, but also genuinely funny. It’s these little moments that make Annie DiRusso’s live show so special — moments that make the audience feel like they’re in on an inside joke with the band.
Other fun moments included Annie doing choreography on a walking pad during “Back In Town,” the band doing some coordinated dance moves during the chorus of “Coming Soon” (including Annie, guitarist James Eichman, and bass player “book NOT brooke” playing their respective instruments behind their heads), plus a surprise song that was written and recorded straight to vinyl in one take at Third Man Records in Detroit a few days prior. The band wrote this song together about the experience of swimming in Lake Erie in Ohio during a day off on tour, and Annie introduced the song by saying “Cleveland is like my Miami” — did I mention she’s hilarious?
On the Back In Town Tour, Annie and the band mostly played songs from Super Pedestrian, but it’s clear the process of writing this new album made Annie reflect on some of her older songs. Between playing new track “Hungry” and the 2021 single “Nine Months,” Annie noted that these two songs represent the same storyline, just a few years apart. There was a time when she was unsure of herself as a younger songwriter. Now, she doesn’t feel any of the shame she previously felt around the situation she writes about in these songs, all that’s left is anger. She said, “It made me feel like damn, when I was 20 I really had something to say. This is for 20-year-old Annie.” That’s the thing about Annie’s music — whether we are closer to 19 or 33, we’re able to find something that resonates deeply with some self-conscious, lost, or angry version of ourselves. The Back In Town Tour has just wrapped up, but if you’re in New York, Philadelphia, or Chicago, you’re in luck! She’ll be performing at festivals in each of those cities this summer.
Follow Annie on Instagram and check out Super Pedestrian on Spotify
All photos appear courtesy of Sarah Elise for Honorable Mention Magazine
