For my 22nd birthday my good friend Joey surprised me with Not For Radio tour tickets. We both have listened to Maria’s music front to back, tuned in since before the resellers took over. I honestly have never loved an artist more and seeing how her music has grown over the years to watching her solo project live felt so surreal, I can only imagine how it felt for her. Heavy remains my top song, it always will be but this performance was like no other.

Once we got to our seats, well almost we did have to shift around a little bit. The first seats we sat in ended up being by two gentlemen. One explained to us that his son works with the band, part of the sound crew. He seemed to be filled with joy for his son, he told us how he had been working with them for a while and he's been to some shows where he even got to meet Maria! He showed us the picture laughing with a huge smile. Although I do feel bad, I misheard him and thought he had asked “Did you two come together?”, in which I replied “Yes!” Turns out he had asked if we were married. So me and Joey have been apparently married for a few years but have no kids, two if you count the cats. Anyways, we actually ended up sitting in the row in front of him as we got our letters mixed up out of excitement. We got settled in, put our glasses on and waited for the show to begin while the rest of the crowd trickled in.

I think that was it, her performance felt intimate and play-like with a very poetic feel. The theater itself was a vampire's dream. High ceilings with painted murals, large mirrors, warm lighting, half spiral stair cases, balconies with intricate cave-like detailing. As you walked further into the theater, a painting by Los Angeles based artist, Moses Hamborg, was displayed in front of a draped white curtain. I didn't get a chance to get a good look up close but the way it was painted seemed so gentle, like he was painting her actual skin and trying to be soft with the brush strokes. He captured her essence very well.

Portrait by Moses Hamborg

Joey & I

A string quartet opened at around 8 o’clock. I have never experienced hearing instrumental music like that live. I mean there were those few times the elementary school band put on their little show but lord that was nothing like this. I knew the violin was a beautiful instrument, hearing it live and seeing the mannerisms of it being played, how the movements were so intense but the bow was always careful when it laid itself on the strings. I truly fell in love. I couldn't seem to find the exact ensemble that played at the January 24th show, as each show had a different group that was local to the area but nevertheless their rendition of Swan Lake was breathtaking, I recognized another melody but I couldn't remember the name of it. I also thought this was such a beautiful way to introduce the feeling that was portrayed when the curtain rose for Maria as she set a ballet-like mood.

Swan Lake, Jennise Hwang (Violin), Michael Siess (Violin), Rita Andrade (Viola), Juan-Salvador Carrasco (Cello)

At 9 o’clock the curtain rose. Here starts act one, Enchanted Fireflies. Maria sat kneeled over in the center of the moss covered stage while a monologue played in the background and fog built up in the back. A single spotlight held its position right over her. She wore a dress with big feather sleeves that overtook the whole upper half while the bottom half was dressed in silk. Her arms swaying up and down imitated the look of wings, the birth of a swan. The first song played was ‘Puddles’, the second song was what I had been waiting for my whole life, ‘Moment’. I really did want more in that moment, I never wanted to leave. The rest of the first act consisted of ‘Magnet', an unreleased song, ‘Living Room' and then ended with ‘Water On Your Nose'. The placement of these songs feel very intentional. All these first songs seem to bring the feeling of - well, exactly what Moment entails. The feeling of desperately wanting something that seems so out of reach. When she shed her white wings while singing Magnet, you felt the unveiling of innocence in a sense. They laid on the ground, stagnant, no longer swaying with her as she sang, as if they had finally broken down.

Curtain opening

The second act, A Swan in the Night, began with a beautiful choreographed piece that fell right into place with the monologue made for this act. Again she sat close and knelled to the ground placed in the middle, displayed in front of the draped mesh curtain that circled around her. She let her arms build her stretch up where her neck fell back and was exposed to the spotlight, her arms continuing to move in wave-like motions, remembering what it was like to fly. The songs that followed this act were ‘My Turn’, another unreleased song, ‘Comet’, ‘Slip’, she actually did an extended version of this song which made me move its ranking on my list to number two, absolutely beautiful. The next was a cover of Radiohead's song ‘Nude’, and then she concluded with ‘Swan’. The ending of Swan was I think my favorite part of the whole show, the scene that was set with the song itself was gorgeous. White feathers fell from the ceiling, she repeated the end of the song walking in a circle around the curtain. A man followed her to the middle, he was dressed in black feathers, representing a black swan. He stood front and center facing the crowd as she continued walking around him. Still singing she let him pick her up off the floor until she fell faint and stopped all together. The feathers are still falling and the man is still holding her. The white swan had died, the black swan laid her gently on her back where he stayed frozen in confusion. There the curtain dropped, the end of act two.

Moment

Swan

The final act, act three, was The Underworld. When the curtain rose again there was a bit of an instrumental break while Maria changed into the second outfit. She then appeared in a very similar outfit to the first, a big feather ensemble that laid itself over the long dress. The only difference is this time the outfit was black instead of white. She sat on a bed in the center of the stage, a little more towards the back while more feathers fell from the ceilings. She began this act with the song ‘Not The Only One’ with ‘Vueltas’ following. As she pranced around the stage the next song was an extended version of ‘No One Noticed’, I fell in love with this version the first time I had heard it. I was so upset I first heard it while surfing on social media and was watching tour videos before I went but that's my own fault, I just needed to know. Just as she was almost done with the show, she let us listen to another unreleased song, ‘Ache’, three in one show, what a privilege. To end the night she sang ‘Back to me’, the second song I was looking forward to hearing most but specifically the last part of it. I love the final lyrics in that song and to go along with it she sat on her bed of moss, on top of all the feathers imitating the swan once again. As the instrumentals grew more intense and the spotlights flashed behind her, her arms flailed more aggressively, her hair moving with the swinging of her head, replicating the chaos and loss of what a white swan once was. There the curtain dropped.

Not The Only One

The words ‘The End” projected themselves onto the red curtain, the crowd fell silent wondering if that was really the end, if so what is there to do now? The curtain rose one last and final time, there Maria stood with all the members of Not For Radio and in the sweetest voice thanked everyone for coming to the show, she told us to “have a good weekend” so the question of “what now?” had been answered. It's time for a good rest of the weekend! All together this performance was beautiful start to finish. The scene she set in every part of the theater was so detailed and well thought out. I loved the physical interactions with the feathers and the curtains, it made you feel like you weren't just listening to a song but a story, you grew a new appreciation for the art produced. Along with the way Maria presents herself on stage, you are captivated by just her energy. It was by far the best way I could’ve spent my birthday, I couldn’t be more grateful for Joey there is quite literally no one else I wouldv’e wanted to see this show with.

No One Noticed (Extended)

Goodnight!