Transparency item: A review provides an informed and opinionated critique. These informed critiques are published to make a recommendation to readers. This review is the opinion of the writer.
The crowd rumbled with energy while neon lights danced around the stage. The audience, initially stirring with anticipation, began to scream with excitement as the lights began to dim.
An announcer’s voice boomed over the speakers, slowly but surely announcing the exciting introduction of the artist everyone had been waiting to see all night: K.Flay.
Kristine Flaherty, known by her stage name K.Flay, put on an intimate concert at the Lodge Room, an old, Masonic lodge in the Highland Park neighborhood of Los Angeles on March 7. As an L.A. native, K.Flay returned to her home base to perform her most recent album MONO, released last September.
K.Flay’s performance included over 20 songs from her expansive musical catalog and electrified the audience.
Connecting with the Music
During her set, K.Flay spoke to the audience as if they were friends and encouraged each listener to connect with her on an emotional level. Providing glimmers of hope for better days, K.Flay inspired her listeners to stay in the moment, feel the music and let their worries go for the rest of the concert.
After graduating from Stanford University, alumna (’07), K.Flay felt influenced by the people she met in college and began releasing mixtapes, eventually producing her first self-titled EP in 2010.
In 2017, K.Flay received nominations for two Grammys at the 60th Annual Awards for Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical for her record “Every Where Is Some Where” and Best Rock Song for her single “Blood in the Cut.”
Setting the Stage
Entering from the bustling street, audiences shuffled upstairs to the top of the lodge. There in the wooden chamber lay a stage enchanted by neon lights and surrounded by an atmosphere of conversation and ambient alternative music to set the mood.
Before K.Flay took the stage, the indie-alternative opener Vienna Vienna performed a powerful, 30-minute set featuring several unreleased singles. After an exciting show, the crowd shuffled closer to the stage and eagerly awaited K.Flay’s lively entrance.
Lights On, the Fight’s On
As the lights dimmed from neon blues and reds to black, a white spotlight danced across the stage and an announcer’s deep voice introduced the artist under the alias “The Punisher.” As if in a boxing match, K.Flay entered from the side of the stage dressed in a boxing robe, cushioned gloves and boxing shorts decorated with her name on the waistband.
As K.Flay made a dramatic entrance, and immediately began belting songs from her most recent album, including “Raw Raw,” “In America” and “Chaos is Love.”
Connecting With the Audience
Throughout her 90-minute set, K.Flay connected with her audience and spoke of the trials and tribulations she has experienced during her lifetime.
Toward the end of her energizing performance, K.Flay began pulling out pieces from past albums like “Every Where Is Some Where” and “Inside Voices/Outside Voices.” After singing several of her most famous tracks like “Blood in the Cut,” “Carsick” and “High Enough,” K.Flay closed out the show with a high-energy performance of “Perfectly Alone.”
At such a special venue in northeast L.A., K.Flay and Vienna Vienna’s exhilarating rock performances excited audiences and left them screaming and chanting for more. Interested concertgoers can purchase tickets for the remainder of K.Flay’s MONO tour around the United States throughout this spring.
__________________
Follow the Graphic on X: @PeppGraphic
Contact Emma Ibarra via email: emma.ibarra@pepperdine.edu
