Beautiful Feminine Rage
Concert Review
Article and Photography by: Brieghanna Chase
In the small, dark, intimate venue, 7th Street Entry, attached to the historic First Avenue in Minneapolis, Minnesota, artist Ella Red and opener PEGGY brought fans young and old, packing the room from wall to wall. With March 8th being another one of her sold-out shows, this 22-year-old artist is taking off with her first album and headlining tour this year. Appealing to women of all ages, the female empowering alternative pop idol is building a fan base of, although it may be cliché, strong, independent, and self-sufficient women.
Opening the show is siren PEGGY, who quite literally looks like she could have stepped out of a storybook and onto the stage (I'm not convinced she hasn't). Emerging from the dark, she steps into the light, singing her single “TALK SHIT!”, and the crowd immediately begins singing along. It's hard not to groove along to the catchy and relatable songs, becoming fully entranced by her angelic and soothing voice. Her songs “DEAR READER”, and “WRITTEN BY A WOMAN” are songs easily attractive to fellow readers, with these and many of her songs from her 2 EPS “Character Development” and “Dear Reader”. She uses many references to literature to beautifully describe so many things that many other women deal with, like heartbreak, anger, and discovering oneself. She treated the crowd to a new and unreleased track, “Frakenstein”, which everyone is now eagerly waiting for. Ending her set with an acoustic version of her hit “ALICE”. This being my first introduction to PEGGY, I can say that it doesn’t take long to be hooked by this enchanting siren, and I’m looking forward to seeing more from this artist.
The lights dimmed as the ominous tones of Ella Red’s “Parasite” were playing, with her haunting lyrics “I can see my corpse in reflections” being sung from the dark. Finally, she emerges in a light pink silk dress, which she made herself, seemingly the antithesis of the lyrics she sang. The excitement was palpable throughout the room, and it was reflected in the performance on the stage. You could see the joy and passion for what she does in Ella’s face as she danced around the stage, never missing a beat in her vocals. Stopping between songs to comment on how loud the crowd was, saying it was the loudest crowd thus far on tour, which only elicited an even louder reaction, almost as if it were a challenge, and these fans were not going to accept defeat.
Disappearing momentarily after her song “Party Animal”, she remerges in an updated version of her dress, now with a sheer floral skirt and attached cape, to sing the emotional and beautiful “Aphrodite”, a song I think every person can relate to. She picked up her acoustic guitar to sing “Cupid,” a song written and dedicated to her sister after a heartbreak, getting emotional while speaking about her younger sister and her love for her. The next song, “Always the Artist,” also came with an emotional introduction as Ella spoke about the difficulties of being an artist and the emotions that come with it. Before she could start singing, before her eyes, a sea of hearts emerged: “You're always our artist and muse.” Shocked by the unexpected gesture of love from her fans, her eyes welled with tears as the realization of what was happening and what the signs said set in. It was a beautiful gesture from a fan base who, I'm sure also deeply related to the feeling of never being enough.
After the song ended, the crowd was easily shifted back from the emotions they were feeling to the upbeat excitement as PEGGY joined the stage for the Red Queen Version of “Alice”, the two women killing the performance, and the audience matching it as they cheered for the duo. To end the show, Ella closed with “It’s Not Real”, but before she said goodnight for the evening, she reminded the crowd that this is the time where she pretends to disappear, and they chant loudly for an encore, and she comes back out to surprise them. The people did not disappoint as they began loudly and fervently changing “Encore! Encore!”, and when she returned to the stage, they cheered as loudly as they would have if the return were a surprise. Finally, the song that went viral, “I Like You Best,” was the perfect high-energy closer to this wonderful show.
These two artists weren't on my playlist before, but they will definitely be making a home there now.
