Melanie Martinez performs at Bill Graham Civic Auditorium in San Francisco on June 6, 2023. Derek Fisher/STAFF.

SAN FRANCISCO — A few thousand camera phones shot into the air at the utterance of simple phrase, played along with a recorded video, to open Melanie Martinez’s sold-out show at Bill Graham Civic Auditorium on Tuesday.

“Wanna know a secret?” asked a voice as the fervent crowd screamed its approval.

Melanie Martinez is in the early stages of her Portals World Tour, which sees the singer playing her latest release, Portals, from front to back. For the San Francisco stop, fans arrived hours before the show, snaking around the park in front of City Hall. This stage show is less “traditional concert” and more performance art, creating a visual spectacle as a live companion piece to the concept album. It’s one of the reasons the phones that shot up early in the gig stayed put for much of the roughly 90-minute set.

Melanie Martinez performs at Bill Graham Civic Auditorium in San Francisco on June 6, 2023.

“What’s up, San Fran?” asked Martinez, otherwise keeping the banter to a minimum.

Portals is the continuation of the singer’s series of records telling the story of a character of her creation; this particular work focusing on afterlife and rebirth. Martinez appeared in character, as did a fair number of fans, many donning ears, wings or dresses to match their idol. The production felt like a video game or movie world, somewhere between “The Legend of Zelda” and “The Lord of the Rings,” with psychedelic “Alice in Wonderland” elements. Martinez herself dressed like the vines that surrounded her.

Opening songs “DEATH” and “VOID” were dramatic and ethereal but also had an anthemic quality that accentuated the sound. Playing an album front to back brings with it a high degree of difficulty, made more challenging when the songs are new and may not be entirely known by fans.

Yet both Melanie Martinez and her fans passed with flying colors. The pacing of the show lent itself well to the material. The visual nature of the performance, fused with the dark and dramatic interludes, created a natural flow. As for the fans? They screamed along to almost every song. Martinez seems to especially resonate with the younger set, who danced and sang into each other’s faces, hanging on every word.

Melanie Martinez performs at Bill Graham Civic Auditorium in San Francisco on June 6, 2023.

Martinez was flanked by a full band and a team of dancers who perfectly complemented her performance.

On tracks like “TUNNEL VISION,” just two dancers took the stage, performing an intimate interpretation of the song, complete with lifts. Martinez was adept at jumping in and out of the choreography, sometimes belting out lines and at others jumping in lockstep with her dancers. She wore a mask the entire show, which seemed like it might be distracting, but was an afterthought once the show began.

The stage shifted and evolved slightly from song to song, with large mushrooms flanking Martinez on “FAEIRE SOIREE” and a massive spider web that covered everything on “SPIDER WEB.” The sounds of tree frogs in a forest filled the auditorium as the stage turned a dark green for “LEECHES.” While it may seem this was the kind of show you had to do your homework to follow, it was quite accessible even for those who didn’t know the intricacies of the narrative (like us).

The band brought unique energy to the stage with non-traditional instruments. The bassist played an upright, while the keyboardist played an instrument she controlled by waving her hands around to change the pitch of the dark synth, like a theremin. Some tracks were more straightforward, like “BATTLE OF THE LARNYX,” with its arena rock feel that had the crowd singing along at its highest levels of the night. “MOON CYCLE” was darker, matching its lyrics. Confetti shot to the sky, filling the hall, during “WOMB,” before Martinez returned to the stage for her encore.

Tanukichan performs at Bill Graham Civic Auditorium in San Francisco on June 6, 2023.

The singer closed with an encore of “POWDER,” “PLUTO” and “MILK OF THE SIREN,” though she may have saved her best trick for last. As ‘SIREN’ reached its crescendo, Martinez pulled out a Progress Pride flag and raised it into the air, eliciting far and away the biggest response of the night.

“Happy Pride!” she said as the show reached its closing moments. “I can’t wait to come back here next year.”

Bay Area singer songwriter Tanukichan opened the concert. Singer-songwriter Hannah Van Loon led a trio for an upbeat set of cool and breezy indie pop songs. It’s the continuation of momentum van Loon has been building, after selling out Bottom of the Hill a few weeks ago. She was soft-spoken, both in speaking and singing, but offered up a set with plenty to like. One of the better moments included a groove-heavy cover of Dido’s “Thank You.”

Follow writer Mike DeWald at Twitter.com/mike_dewald. Follow photographer Derek Fisher at Instagram.com/dfishswish.