Poppy performs at the UC Theatre in Berkeley on March 8, 2022. Chloe Catajan/STAFF.

BERKELEY — The always enigmatic Poppy returned to the Bay Area on Wednesday, bringing her Never Find My Place Tour to the UC Theatre. The name was fitting for an artist who seems to thrive on not fitting in.

Much like Poppy’s most recent album, Flux, the performance capturing the artist’s rawer and straightforward sound. The stage was lit with bolts of color and flashes of light shooting throughout the room. The backdrop was a circular black and white spiral that spun throughout the performance, giving the stage a mystifying effect.

Poppy performs at UC Theatre in Berkeley on March 8, 2022.

Poppy made efficient use of her time, packing in 18 songs into 75 minutes. She opened in dramatic fashion, with her band playing a building a melody that climaxed in a wall of sound as a wall of white light enveloped the stage. The band then kicked into the punchy “Lessen the Damage,” which had Poppy, clad in black, bouncing from side to side on the stage and then up and down a set of ramps at the back.

The song selection was split fairly evenly between Flux and 2020’s I Disagree, with a few scattered selections from throughout Poppy’s burgeoning catalog. The early part of the set was all about energy, leaning more on 2020 songs like “BLOODMONEY,” “Concrete” and the driving “Sit/Stay.” One noticeable difference from the last time Poppy played the Bay Area was just how much her voice cut through the mix. One of her most impressive vocal qualities is her versatility and that was put on display from start to finish. Effortlessly able to pivot from whisper-singing to a soaring chorus or a ground-rumbling scream, Poppy has become more adept in cohesively mixing up her vocals in a way that makes the songs varied and exciting.

The backing quartet kept things moving along, whether the song was blistering metal or a melodic ballad. One of the show’s high points came with the title track of Poppy’s most recent album. Leading with an extended jam into a rousing version of “Flux,” the band got fans jumping and dancing along.

Without an introduction came Poppy’s excellent cover of t.A.T.u’s “All The Things She Said,” which served as a page break between the 2020-dominant part of the set and the newer songs. Poppy also exuded plenty of confidence onstage, taking the crowd with her with every stomp of her boot.

A new element to Poppy’s repertoire is playing instruments. Multiple times, she jumped behind a synth, and during “Her,” she even played an electric guitar.

She kept the banter to a minimum. Beyond checking in on the crowd a few times, Poppy was still soft-spoken when it came to interaction with the audience. Following a pair of heavy songs in “CUE” and “Anything Like Me,” the band downshifted into some more nuanced tracks like the one-two of “As Strange As It Seems” and “Never Find My Place” to close out the main portion of the set.

Poppy performs at UC Theatre in Berkeley on March 8, 2022.

The singer returned to the stage following some spirited chanting for an encore for a rapid-fire attack of “I Disagree” and “Bite Your Teeth,” two of her heaviest songs. One song segued right into the other, with the former sporting a slightly tweaked arrangement with a heavier emphasis on the bass grove. With a quick wave to the crowd and an “I love you Berkeley,” the lights went dark and Poppy was done.

Opening the night was a just as eclectic—possibly even more—performance by Mz Neon. Trying to classify and put Mz Neon’s sound into a box seems like it would be a waste of words because it’s near impossible. The artist stretched musical bounds through rap, hard rock, electronica and a healthy number of other influences. The S&M-themed set featured Mz Neon along and a musician in a bondage mask who would sometimes handle the electronics and sometimes lay down riffs on an electric guitar. Much of the material was rooted in the experience of being a trans woman in a confident and defiant way. The set was unusual, unpredictable and fun.

Follow writer Mike DeWald at Twitter.com/mike_dewald.