St. Vincent performs at the Greek Theatre in Berkeley on Sept. 23, 2021. Steve Carlson/STAFF.

BERKELEY — St. Vincent (artist Annie Clark) isn’t afraid of dramatically changing how she presents herself to the world. And her impressive performance at the Hearst Greek Theatre on Thursday night only reinforced that fact, as well her well-earned status as a top-notch performance artist and a unique and influential musical talent.

St. Vincent performs at the Greek Theatre in Berkeley on Sept. 23, 2021.

Just a few years ago, St. Vincent was touring her critically-lauded album Masseduction by dressing in futuristic skintight leather and performing entirely by herself with just backing tracks and surreal video footage. On this tour she reinvented herself with vintage-inspired garb and had a talented band with backup singers and no video reinforcement at all. St. Vincent might’ve been unrecognizable to some who saw her just four years ago.

Her latest album, Daddy’s Home, is centered on a vision of 1970s New York in which she grapples with the past incarceration of her father, and her present-day anxieties around unmet expectations and toxic relationships as she navigates adulthood. It’s a complex narrative performed entirely in character, which frees her to explore these sensitive subjects with a bit of distance. 

But St. Vincent also seems to recognize that this deep dive into playing a character can create a dissonance that makes it hard to know the real Annie Clark.

St. Vincent performs at the Greek Theatre in Berkeley on Sept. 23, 2021.

The show opened with a misdirection: The band took its place and St. Vincent joined the backup singers in a line to raucous applause—but was it her? It was quickly revealed that the woman fans have been cheering for is an imposter, and the true St. Vincent was revealed on a rotating platform behind the band. We thought we knew her, but it was superficial. To further the point, this moment of confusion was paired with opening song “Digital Witness,” from her 2015 self-titled album that grapples with the voyeurism of social media and the validation we seek from our “audiences.” Daddy’s Home may be her most personal and revealing album yet, but how much could we truly understand where she’s been, and what did she hope to accomplish by sharing these intimate details of her life?

St. Vincent performs at the Greek Theatre in Berkeley on Sept. 23, 2021.

There was what seemed to be a nod to another famous artist who once played a character to create space to explore complex topics. At one point between songs, a woman dressed as a waitress delivered a ringing telephone to St. Vincent. Much like Bono in character as the showman devil Mr. MacPhisto, who during U2’s Zoo TV tour used to call world leaders like President George H.W. Bush on the telephone from stage every night, St. Vincent paused the show to have a brief phone chat. However, she pretended to call and chat with not a world leader but a girlfriend whom she promised to share “big gossip” with later. The interlude might’ve seemed out of place if not for the frequent challenging of feminine stereotypes and expectations from a bygone era that populates Daddy’s Home. It was another reminder of the retro character St. Vincent has embodied during this musical period.

At times, however, St. Vincent could let down her guard and become disarmingly transparent and self-deprecating, such as when she told a story about recently being recognized at a restaurant. She mistakenly thought the waitress was telling her that her money wasn’t welcome there (apparently a common perk for the famous) but instead it turned out that she simply had gone to the wrong place to pay. In these moments when her true self peeked through, she further endeared herself.

Her band was every bit as exhilarating as one might expect given its pedigree. Affectionately referred to as the “Down and Out Downtown Band,” it was led by the incomparable Justin Meldal-Johnsen on bass and featured Jason Falkner on guitar, Rachel Eckroth on keys and Mark Guiliana on drums. Meldal-Johnsen’s role as musical director is a natural fit for the retro-funk grooves on Daddy’s Home songs, given his long history producing and performing with Beck, and his impeccable musicianship and tight pocket was evident on songs like “Pay Your Way In Pain” and “…At The Holiday Party.”

Spoon performs at the Greek Theatre in Berkeley on Sept. 23, 2021.

Indie rockers Spoon opened the show.  Though down to only two original members, singer-guitarist Britt Daniel and drummer Jim Eno, the band effortlessly worked its way through hits like “Do You” and “The Underdog.” A particular highlight came midway through the set when Daniel introduced a song “by our favorite Beatle,” which turned out to be the introspective and timely “Isolation” by John Lennon. Guitarist-keyboardist Alex Fischel played the first half of the melancholy song on the piano with an impressive, loose interpretation before being joined by the rest of the band.

 Follow photographer Steve Carlson at Instagram.com/SteveCarlsonSF and Twitter.com/SteveCarlsonSF.