Photos and Show Review: Poppy at Brooklyn Steel, Brooklyn, NY, February 6, 2020
By far the most memorable moment of Poppy’s show last week at Brooklyn Steel came when she got up on the ego riser between songs and said to the crowd in the most innocent, smallest voice imaginable, “On this next song, can you all please go in a circle?”
Whether her choice of words to OPEN UP THIS FUCKING CIRCLE PIT! were born of genuine confusion and ignorance of the correct turn of phrase (unlikely) or part of the whole Poppy persona put-on (likely) is mostly irrelevant: everything else about Poppy’s performance was pure rock star spectacle. Despite her relatively recent pivot to metal, Poppy is fully comfortable on stage as a frontwoman for heavy music, her moves a hybrid of her former life as a dance pop queen — a little hip shimmy here, a double leg kick there — and a metal band-leader. As her backing band of masked musicians provided a sonic backdrop that often hit even heavier than on record, Poppy fully commanded the stage, head-banging her giant, twin braids like a cross between Jonathan Davis and Willow Smith when appropriate, and retreating to a mirrored box towards the back of center stage during instrumental breaks.
Fans were all too happy to oblige Poppy’s request to go in a circle, both when she asked and throughout the rest of the night with no prompting. Those who discovered Poppy with the singer’s latest album, I Disagree, were rewarded with a setlist that contained every single one of its songs along with “X” and “Am I a Girl?” from her previous effort and a cover of t.A.T.u.’s “All the Things She Said.” For most in the room it was the first time seeing Poppy live, and the excitement in the air was palpable, a truly special moment in an artist’s career that connects both artist and fan. The show topped out at an hour, the perfect length, and with big things on the horizon for Poppy this year it’s only just the beginning of that connection.
Below, have a look at stellar photographs from the show via the very talented Jason Bailey!
Poppy
Vowws
