Music Existence Because of Music, We Exist
This time last year, up-and-coming indie rocker Annie DiRusso was playing to a sold out crowd of 200 at Berklee’s Red Room at Cafe 939. With only a handful of singles under her belt and new to not only touring but to live performances in general, the singer-songwriter was wide-eyed with excitement and still adjusting to life on the road.
Only a year later, she’s released her first EP, God, I Hate This Place, and has toured the country opening for a slew of big names including Declan McKenna, HAIM, Rainbow Kitten Surprise and more. Now embarking on her 27-date headlining “God, I Love This Tour,” Annie will traipse the country armed with an arsenal of new songs as a newfound veteran of the road.
On the tour’s seventh stop, Annie made her way to The Sinclair in Cambridge, MA, a staple in Harvard Square’s nightlife scene. Just last October, Annie played the same stage in support of Declan McKenna’s sold out Zeros Tour. When we chatted with Annie last week while she was making her way up to Toronto, she noted how the weight of the role reversal didn’t surpass her. “There’s a few shows on this tour that I just recently opened at last year… it’s really crazy and I can’t even believe it,” she gushed.
That same sense of disbelief remained ever present during her Boston show. Support act Hannah Cole got the night started with a mellowed and sincere set, accompanied by Josef Kuhn, a drummer whom her and Annie share. Both artists also had their parents in attendance, and often pointed them out throughout the night, in moments of gratitude and reserve when certain lyrics may not be suited for parental ears.
Annie and her band— Zack Lockwood on bass, Josef Kuhn on drums, and Eden Joel Urry on guitar— took the stage with plastered grins that failed to waver. Her biggest show to date, the magic of these moments hasn’t yet ceased to amaze them, and the triumphant show they put on proved that.
Annie welcomed us all into her bedroom, with a set design decorated to resemble her actual room back in Nashville— physical pink-sheeted bed and all. The intricate setting made the perfect atmosphere for songs that were first brought to life in that very spot. Adding a layer of intimacy to the already personal show, the room felt even closer with the added touch, especially where many of her songs reference her room, both current and childhood.
“My parents raised a happy child/ In the house at the bottom of Emerson/Now every time I go home/ All I do is sleep/ I don’t know what kind of twisted hold/ My childhood bedroom has on me” she sings on “Emerson,” the opening single of both the EP and show. Beginning her set with the high charged single, the crowd erupted in excitement that paralleled the energy onstage. Thrashing with reckless abandon, guitars armed across them as lethal weapons, Annie and her band passionately tore into the set as if it was their first night on tour.
Following up with early cut “Dead Dogs,” an ode to Annie’s childhood dog Bella, her chattiness and penchant for telling the story of each song before playing it begins— literally breaking the fourth bedroom wall. This is commonplace throughout any Annie DiRusso show, and adds a layer of intimacy that is often missing, especially in the fast-paced realm of rock shows.
“Last fall we went on tour and at the very end of it I got really sick and I had to stay back in Texas while my band went back to Nashville and we canceled a bunch of shows,” Annie told the crowd about the origins of her EP. “I was in a hotel alone, in Frisco, Texas. I was just sick and sad and lonely… and I wrote this song called ‘Frisco Forever’,” she introduced the song before ripping into it with controlled chaos.
Blending buzzing garage rock guitars with a pop-infused flair, Annie’s songs translate to the stage in an uproar of contagious energy. On upbeat tracks (“Don’t Swerve,” “Frisco Forever,” “Call It All Off”) her catchy hooks demand to be screamed along to, while on ballads and slow rockers (“Jonathan,” “Infinite Jest,” “Nine Months”) her composed melodies shine with the magic she creates.
Having waited patiently throughout the long stretch of the pandemic, fans have been eager to experience Annie’s raucous live show and sing along to the songs that had never left the confines of her bedroom, tying that aspect physically into her live shows.
“I never toured pre-pandemic and I hadn’t really played many shows at all. So when I started touring for the first time last year, it was a bit of a shock to see people,” Annie told us during our phone call. “I mean I grew most of my audience actually like during the pandemic from online spaces. And so to get to tour immediately and have people singing the words to things was really crazy.”
Sharing personal anecdotes, bantering with the crowd, and even singing ‘Happy Birthday’ not once but twice to fans in the crowd, Annie created several special memories. Her band members made use of the set’s furniture during these moments or acoustic numbers, sitting on the bed and looking out over the crowd in marvel.
Bringing her newest songs to stage for the very first time on this tour, the February release is already beloved by fans. “It’s so fun to get to play the new songs and see you guys know them. That’s the coolest thing ever. … Playing that song is kind of emotional,” she said of “Frisco Forever”.
“At the end of the song I talk about how my lease went until May, and it’s May.” (Went into my room/ It still reeks of you/ Lease won’t end till May/ God, I hate this place). “My lease is ending this month. I’ve lived in this house for four years in Nashville and this is my last month in the house, but I’m not there. But I kind of am in a very freak way,” she laughs, gesturing to the bedroom decor surrounding her.
Written in 2020, Annie introduced her vulnerable new song “Body,” a track in which she condemns the desire to change for anybody else. “I was really scared to release it and thought I never would,” she admitted. “I didn’t listen to it for like an entire year after I wrote it. Then I listened to it, and with a lot of encouragement from my friends and family, I decided to release it. It’s been incredibly cathartic. So I just want to say thanks for always being so caring with my words.”
The reception from fans is the warm embrace that Annie’s words deserve, and this sentiment continued throughout the night through tracks “Hybrid,” “Infinite Jest,” and “Nine Months.” Her fandom goes beyond knowing the lyrics to each song— a pair of fans in the front row wore nearly identical dresses to Annie’s signature black and white look. She grinned as she pointed them out, “Oh my God, they look better than the original. They’re so precise! That’s like the coolest thing ever. And the eye shadow.”
“Thank you so much for coming, I can’t believe this. This is one of the greatest nights, I’ll never forget this, so thank you” Annie gushed before leaving the stage, though not for long. Returning for an encore performance of fan favorites “Call It All Off,” a single released earlier in the year, co-written with Nashville pal Briston Maroney, and “Coming Soon,” a crowd pleaser that sends the audience into a wave of trashing bodies and arms in the air, pulsating up and down to the infectious beat of the song. Performing with every last drop of energy throughout their choreographed dance routine, the charm of Annie and her band doubles instantly. Collapsing to the ground in a final dramatic plight, the lights of Annie’s bedroom go dark as a goodnight to all.
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