Last week, Faye Webster, an Atlanta-native singer-songwriter, performed at Jannus landing, a small venue in St. Petersburg, as the first stop of her new debut album “Underdressed At The Symphony”. It’s been a long three years since her last album, so fans have been apprehensively waiting for her to make another appearance live.
Webster has been hard at work since 2013, when she released her first studio album at just 16 years old. Although she’s had a lasting presence in the music industry, it wasn’t until a couple years ago, that she began to receive widespread fame for her music. Many would attribute her as a “TikTok Artist” because of her popularity on the social media platform, although her presence surpasses more than just the app.
To everyone’s surprise, Webster brought out her good friends “Upchuck”, similar in origin, they also started their music industry in the peach state. Their name perfectly describes the energy and hostility of their discography. The lead singer, KT, resembling a tough video game character, violently bellowed lyrics as a sea of stupefied Faye fans stood with their mouths open. I can’t say I quite understand this choice of pairing such a brash, angry artist with one of the most mellow artists I know, but I also can’t say I minded it. I think it provided an unexpected element of surprise that served as an extremely enjoyable people-watching experience. I don’t think the tamer Webster fans were prepared for such a blaring opener, and you could see the visible frustration through much of the crowd as Upchuck exceeded over an hour of playing time.
People began to wonder where Faye was; why she’d taken so long to allow this metal nuisance to taint their mellow indie rock ears. At about this time, I watched people begin to leave because of their frustration with the opener. As KT screamed her last profanity, people were beyond restless. We only had to wait for about twenty minutes before Faye arrived though, and the cheers were ten times louder than anything she played that night.
She had a very well-balanced setlist; playing almost all of her most popular songs and some lesser known ones as well. Her soft willowy voice was angelic live; almost making everyone forget about the opener. She had a full band of extremely capable artists, which always adds so much to a concert experience. Her voice alone carried much of the music; but the beautiful blend of orchestration, keyboard, brass and her sitar-like guitar made it soar.
I’d say my only complaint was that she only played for about an hour, which was particularly disappointing considering her opener probably played longer than her. Besides that, it was a magical night and I’m so grateful I was able to see her. My favorite song she played was “Kingston”, one of her more known pieces. She went on a almost spoken poetry-like tangent at the end of the song that had the whole crowd in awe.
I’m so grateful I was able to see Webster before she’s gone past the boundary of affordability and is selling out stadiums. While I cannot wait to see her blow up at the mainstream level, I’m very happy I had the privilege of seeing her at a more intimate venue.
