Tag: austin city limits

A peek at videos on social media of the Austin City Limits Festival last weekend can quickly demonstrate the power of this new generation of female pop singers. Chappell Roan played to a massive sea of people who all seemed to know the words to her songs.

Remi Wolf may not have the massive stage show, backup dancers and costumes of Roan or Sabrina Carpenter or Renee Rapp, but man, does she have the pipes to stand toe-to-toe with any of them. And the energy. She brought both to White Oak Music Hall Thursday night in front of an absolutely jam packed crowd (mostly women) who knew Wolf’s material like the ACL crowd knew Roan’s “Hot to Go!”

Originally, the show was scheduled for the lawn and with temperatures in the 70s, that seemed like a great plan. But, for reasons unknown, we all crammed inside instead. In truth, everyone was better for it. The intimacy it provided seemed almost tailor made for Wolf’s entire vibe.

I first encountered Wolf, 28, the way most people find music now: on TikTok. It was a raucous, insanely energetic live version of her song “Quiet on Set” from her debut full-length album, Juno released in 2021. Her music is a quirky mix of modern pop, funk and indie rock, and her voice ranges from an almost cloying affected Betty Boop cuteness (she wore a Boop T-shirt this night) to upper register wailing worthy of Janis Joplin or Freddie Mercury. On record, all of her music education (she attended the USC Thornton School of Music) shines with modern production and tight musicianship (think indie rock Lizzo with a side of Prince). On stage, she is a tiny blur of loud, frenetic energy, a rock star with pop songs that everyone wants to dance to.

In a near constant haze of fog machine smoke, Wolf twirled and gyrated her way through an electric set of songs heavily weighted towards her July release Big Ideas. Standing on the edge of the stage, she said that this recent album was very personal, written in a short time after a long stretch of touring. “Alone in Miami,” she explained, was written about a week she spent with “crypto bros” in Florida, partying and “wearing Gucci head to toe.”

Lyrically, she is incredibly frank, wildly clever, and pretty damn funny. Performing, she is a dynamo, constantly bouncing and dancing across the stage yet not once having that exertion compromise her jaw dropping vocals. Several songs in, she asked the crowd to perform a series of exercises with her designed to connect her and the audience. I wondered if maybe she just needed to warm up because the stamina one would need to get through this performance was remarkable.

Backed up by a relatively simple setup of drums, percussion, bass, keys and a pair of guitars, it felt positively pedestrian compared to other artists of her genre. But, it was that simplicity that made it so refreshing. Sans huge light shows and carefully choreographed dance moves, the band just dug in and rocked complete with (shock) extended guitar solos and the occasional funny pre-planned moments — at one point bassist Maddie Jay joined Wolf at the front of the stage to shake their booties in unison directly in the faces of breathlessly screaming fans.

The energetic peak of the show was “Sexy Villain” followed by a delightful cover of Tom Cochrane’s “Life is a Highway.” Then came an improvisational moment for the band when Wolf asked the audience for a word they could use to create a song on the spot. She recently was forced to sing a song about “Poo” in Atlanta, apparently.

Well, if only H-Town had chosen poo. At first, someone shouted “Houston” to which the audience rightfully booed. The next request, however, nailed it: foreskin. So, Wolf and bandmates put together a song roughly called “Foreskin in Houston” featuring Wolf singing the lyric “it is nasty and it’s your fault” while pointing at the offending party who gave her the idea. After her foray into foreskin, Wolf probably wishes she could go back to poo.

By the time she reached some of her more well-known tunes like crowd favorite “Disco Man” and pop anthem “Soup,” the audience was in a full dance party frenzy. The singing and cheers were deafening, easily as loud as the band, and Wolf was enthralled.

So often, pop singers are so carefully crafted that the fun can be missing. Not for Wolf. If there was one defining feature of her performance, it was the smiling, from her band to her crowd to her own face. It was a goddamn party and, for one night, we were all invited.

Her next stop is Austin for ACL this weekend and a date with an outdoor stage (this time for real). Roan, Carpenter and others found massive followings after seminal performances at festivals like Austin’s annual Zilker Park extravaganza. This could be Wolf’s moment. She certainly deserves it. If you are going, do yourself a favor and pile in front of the stage for Wolf’s slot, Saturday night before Rapp, Houston’s own Khruangbin, and headliner Dua Lipa.

It will absolutely not disappoint.