Dub-step violinist and YouTube sensation Lindsey Stirling appeared under a beam of light on the Tucson Music Hall stage Wednesday night and smoothly begin playing her song “Ascendance.”
The crowd filling the hall from end to end roared with excitement, setting the tone for what turned out to be a fast-paced and colorful night on Stirling’s global “Music Box Tour.”
Whirling across the stage while expertly playing her violin, Stirling’s talent shined as she dominated the stage Wednesday night. Her performance attracted a sold-out and diverse audience that ranged from older couples to young kids.
Stirling’s performance attempted to tell the story behind each piece through an interactive and changing set complete with multiple video screens, a video-enhanced frame suspended over the stage front, emotive dancing with back-up dancers and the melody of each song.
She successfully used the unique set to recreate her music video for “Shadows” by using large on-stage screens and lights to bring her shadow to life. At the climax of the song, a screen dropped down behind Stirling and two giant shadows danced alongside her.
Stirling’s show was entirely instrumental except for one song, when she took a turn singing. She has a lovely voice, but her signature is playing her violin. It is channels her voice and vision, creating wonderful stories that come to life enhanced by the videos.
On “Master of Tides,” Stirling took the audience on a classic high seas adventure in the search of treasure.
As the screens behind her and her dancers flashed video of a restless sea, a gleaming pirate ship and a skull, Stirling and her dancers find a map and brave the tide to find a chest with a most valuable object — a shining new violin for Stirling. She switched to the new violin and played through the rest of the song and set with it.
At the end of the show, the screens blasted images of large mechanical gears and the inner workings of machinery for Stirling’s 2014 Top 40 hit “Shatter Me.” Stirling lit into a frenzied violin rant against the backdrop of the pre-recorded voice of Lzzy Hale, who recorded the song with Stirling.
Paying tribute to the gamer side of her fanbase, Stirling played a video game medley that included songs from “Assassin's Creed,” “Dragon Age,” “Halo,” “Zelda” and “Skyrim.” The end of the song was greeted with a roar of applause.
Stirling’s costumes were as dazzling as her sets. She came out on stage in a sequined silver tights accented by a fluffy mini skirt that helped exaggerate her silhouette. A few songs later, she re-emerged on stage in a colorful springtime dress that spun out gracefully when she twirled around stage. Another costume was a ballet bodice with wiring around it that twisted down to create a skirt coupled with ripped tights.
Stirling also got creative with her mini intermissions that gave her time to quick-change costumes. The videotaped sketches included a soaked Stirling surrounded by her similarly soaked dancers asking for “girls.” The girls were actually male bandmates Jason Gavitai and Drew Steen, who played along with the gag. Intermission interludes for “Crystalize” and “Shatter Me” could have been shorter; the seemed to drag on, zapping some of the show’s momentum.
Stirling brought along a pair of opening acts: pop singer Olivia Somerlyn, who kicked off the night with her well-known 2014 single “Parachute”; and Canadian electro-pop singer Lights (Valerie Anne Poxleitner), whose electrified sound and near blinding lighting effects tied in nicely with Stirling’s high-energy, fast-paced performance.
