"Are you guys ready?" Santi White enthusiastically asked as she greeted the jam-packed, sweaty crowd at the House of Blues in Anaheim. But in truth, there really is no way to ready yourself for a (Santigold) concert. Not only is her music an odd array of surging sounds and styles, but her performances are exactly that as well. You don't quite know what to expect. Santigold matches her fusion of pop, rock, hip-hop, reggae, tribal, and punk sounds (to name a few) with a high-energy, crazy visual performance filled with striking DIY-looking costumes and props, vibrant choreographed and unchoreographed dances, and fun audience interaction. Having opened for the likes of Coldplay and Jay-Z, Santigold knows how to put on an exciting show that will wear you out. She performed a long yet captivating set comprised of all but two songs from each of her albums. Having recently released her sophomore album Master of My Make-Believe, almost four years after her debut Santogold, the sold-out audience was eager to see what the singer/songwriter had in store.



Santigold opened the show with "Go," her single that features Karen O. of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Although no sign of Karen, Santigold was accompanied by costumed band members and back-up dancers. Their colorful outfits resembled that worn by the Huxtable kids on The Cosby Show. Her two female dancers, always expressionless, engaged in all sorts of behaviorbooty-bouncing breakdancing, Irish step dancing, marching band drumming, and prancing around with umbrellas. Santigold loved to join her dancers as she frequently danced along to choreographed movements or jammed out on musical breaks. Santigold left her band and dancers alone onstage twice as she ran off for quick costume changes. She returned one of the times to perform "Hold the Line" and was followed by a giant horse costume made up of a few people. Her strange style choices were welcomed by the audience as they screamed loudly for the farm animal getup.





Although Santigold puts on a show, she does an awesome job at breaking down any separation of stage and audience. Keeping it almost street-like, Santigold likes to make the audience feel on her level. Her shoes are casual, her dances are familiar (once she mimicked double-dutch jumping), and she loves to interact with the audience. For "Brooklyn We Go Hard" she found the only person from Brooklyn in the audience and dedicated the song to her. She even picked people from the audience to come on stage and dance with her for "Creator." It was clear that Santigold is a fan of her fans. However, you do not want to get on her bad side. When she went out into the audience she thought that a guy had grabbed her behind, and she said, "Don't put no fucking hands on my ass. I was about to break your hand." Turns out, it was the girl next to him. Santigold didn't mind once she realized it was a girl who touched her and continued on with the rest of her set. By the end of her encore, she had done a total of 18 high-energy, crazy songs.


























Setlist:
01. Go
02. L.E.S. Artistes
03. Lights Out
04. Say Aha
05. God from the Machine
06. Get it up
Buraka Break
07. Hold the LIne
08. Disparate Youth
09. This Isnt Our Parade
10. Anne
11. The Keepers
12. Creator
Second Break
13. Freak Like Me
14. Starstruck
15. Brooklyn We Go Hard
16. Shove It
17. Look At These Hoes
18. Fame
19. Big Mouth
Encore
20. Youll Find a Way
21. Unstoppable
22. B.O.O.T.A.Y