Tonight was the night to see Snoh Aalegra so I arrived at The Anthem at 8:06pm and the show was slated to start at 8pm. First of all I have to give credit to the Anthem for quickly getting everyone in. Despite the constant email reminders about Covid-19 entry requirements no one even checked (I overheard one of the staff say they relaxed protocol regarding that (ok but don’t have me uploading everything if you’re not going to check it)). Anywho, I was ID’ed and banded and proceeded inside. There weren’t a lot of people wearing masks and I wanted to keep my mask on but I got so hot inside I opted to ditch it early and to be quite honest I am ready to get back to living a little more normally without the mask (I am fully vaccinated and will take a rapid test tomorrow before work-I did and was negative). I didn’t know if there were any opening acts and to my surprise once inside there was already someone on stage performing, Ogi.

     I hadn’t heard of Ogi before but she was a vibe from the moment I walked in. She had the audience echo “Bitch too bitter” as part of her song, “I Got It” and the vibe was cool as people were still trickling in. I have no idea how many songs she performed before I arrived but I was present for three. The next opener was Ama Lou from London and she too was a vibe. Now she performed what seemed like her EP and a couple more songs and I didn’t mind because she was good. As she performed one song suddenly there was commotion to my immediate right and the crowd of people beside me quickly shifted in my direction but my hand reflexes stretched out to block them. I’m not quite sure what happened but apparently a fight broke out…I can’t. That situation gets handled and everyone settles down and inch closer to the stage.

     Snoh Aalegravcomes out wearing a gorgeous sparkly outfit and the crowd gets excited. She starts jamming, we start jamming and it’s a good time. Twenty minutes into her set she stops the music because people in the crowd were signaling and pointing…someone further up on the right towards the stage passed out. Mind you I don’t know why they passed out but I will say The Anthem staff popped up out of nowhere and followed whomever was accompanying the girl (at one point she could barely walk and just collapsed). Since the Travis Scott tragic incident artists try moreso to make sure they are aware as to what’s going on in the crowd so respect to Snoh for making sure everything was alright before proceeding forward. What we didn’t know is less than ten minutes later she would be stopping the show again because someone else passed out.

     You could tell as she asked, “Guys what’s going on?” that she was a concerned as to what was happening. My thoughts were, One: Someone took something that they couldn’t handle or Two: Heat exhaustion (it was hot in there but shoot I had on a big coat and a scarf and I didn’t pass out). We continued on and then 15 minutes later you guessed it she had to stop the show again. It got so bad she asked The Anthem to pass out some water or turn the air up. This all seemed to be happening in the same area and that’s why I think that that group just couldn’t handle whatever it was they took but this starting and stopping was annoying the crowd at this point. She made sure to make sure everyone was alright before continuing the show and you’d think by now we’d be good right…wrong, she had to stop one more time.

     I kept thinking, “Come on y’all next time just say no” (it felt very embarassing especially after she initially said we might be her favorite crowd-doubt it now). Aside from people passing out, the show was good and she ran through the majority of her latest album, “Temporary Highs In The Violet Skies” as well as a few other notable songs. She ended her set but came back out for an encore of 2 songs (she even signed something for someone and accepted a gift someone gave her). When the lights came on I was ready to go after being sandwiched between people in the middle of a GA (general admission) standing room only floor. It was then that anxiety kicked in and I’m still not a fan of being that close around people in a given space in times of Covid but with shows I will have to adjust because that’s just how it is and that’s how it was before but to a point things have changed. This wasn’t my first time seeing Snoh though (it was actually in 2018 at SXSW) but it was good to see her have her own show and how much she’s evolved over just 4 years. Get your tickets if she’s coming to a city near you and give her latest album a listen.