Mitski kicks off four-day Ryman residency in Nashville with theatrical indie concert

Walking up to Nashville's Ryman Auditorium on Wednesday night, large words projected on the side of the building said: "Mitski Ryman Residency, Four Nights Sold Out."

And on her first night of performances on April 10, the indie darling dazzled on stage with a highly choreographed and precise show.

The night featured a seven-part band with thumping upright bass and spacey pedal steel, all accompanying Mitski's soaring, silk-like vocals and performance art movements.

The 33-year-old singer, born Mitsuki Miyawaki, has become one of indie-alternative music's most-listened to artists over the past decade. She currently has over 35 million monthly listeners on Spotify, a stat that landed her in the platform's top 100 most-streamed artists worldwide at the end of last year.

The Nashville resident is known for her hits "My Love Mine All Mine," "Washing Machine Heart" and "First Love/Late Spring." She's released seven albums, with her latest "The Land Is Inhospitable and So Are We" releasing in September.

Mitski's solo albums aren't her only projects. In November 2023, the news dropped that she is slated to write lyrics and music for a Broadway adaptation of "The Queen's Gambit."

For those unfamiliar with Mitski, she sounds like a mix of Fiona Apple, Lana Del Rey, Japanese Breakfast and Phoebe Bridgers. Mitski's voice has a clean, raw ring and an impressive vocal range.

Mitski's Nashville roots, her move to Music City

The singer-songwriter moved to Nashville in 2020 and worked to produce her 2022 album "Laurel Hell" during the pandemic.

According to Vulture, Mitski moved to Music City because she wanted to live in a place that wasn't Los Angeles or New York, but still had access to music studios.

Then, she went on to create her most recent album at Nashville's Bomb Shelter Studio and Los Angeles' Sunset Sound with producer Patrick Hyland.

And now, Mitski's "The Land is Inhospitable and So Are We" Tour brings her to her home city for a four-day residency before heading to the U.K. at the end of April. After her time in Nashville, Mitski will tour through Europe before returning to the U.S. for more shows.

Before Mitski hit the stage, opener Sarah Kinsley performed. On Thursday, Mitski's opener will be Sunny War, on Friday it will be Julia Jacklin, and on Saturday, Cowboy Junkies.

Then Mitski entered the stage with her opening song "Everyone." She wore a simple white button down, black pants and jazz shoes.

As she walked on stage, she sang and strolled around a curtain that made a column center-stage. She wrapped around the back of the backlit curtain, which dramatically showed her shadow.

Fans screamed as the curtain dropped before she went into second song "Buffalo Replaced."

From there, the audience was fully locked in to her whimsical, musical storytelling. In fact, Mitski rarely interrupted her show to address the Nashville crowd throughout the evening. Once, she praised the new thriller movie "Monkey Man," another time she urged the audience to adopt shelter cats in Nashville.

Here's are some of the highlights from night one of Mitski's Ryman shows.

Mitski's hypnotizing movements, theatrical and bizarre

The way Mitski moved around the Ryman stage was hypnotizing. The sold-out crowd was locked in to her every step.

Her choreography felt heavily influenced by "Cabaret" choreographer Bob Fosse, featuring his distinct, old-school Broadway moves with turned-in knees, jazz hands and curved shoulders.

Mitski isn't the only big performer to invoke Fosse. Just last month, pop star Olivia Rodrigo's Nashville tour stop featured choreography infused with strong Fosse influence.

Sometimes Mitski would mirror her lyrics to her movements. For "I Love Me After You," Mitski performed a morning routine, acting out the steps of her self-care regimen. She sang, "Brushing my hair naked / Spritz my face with toner / Splash water on my neck, I'm laughing in the mirror," all the while performing her matching movements.

During song "Heaven," Mitski waltzed with a spotlight, holding it as if the beam of light was her dance partner. It was a captivating visual display.

To sum up Mitski's performance is no small task; she's doll like, almost like her limbs are being pulled, with immense precision, by a puppeteer holding the strings of a marionette.

But she isn't always so clean in her movements. Sometimes she thrashes, twitches, collapses in a puddle on the floor. Other times, it's like she's in a Vaudeville act. The movements are campy, exaggerated with big facial expressions.

At some points, she drags chairs around to use as props, like actors in an avant-garde theatre performance may use stage blocks to fill in as a variety of items or fixtures.

These elements of Mitski's performance are not spontaneous or unplanned; Mitski has done her homework on performance art and theatre.

At the end of 2023, Mitski posted on Instagram that she was working with choreographer Monica Mirabile on her upcoming tour, who encouraged her to be present in the moment. Mitski took the message as encouragement to have fun on this tour.

"I’m really looking forward to touring next year," Mitski said on Instagram, "To showing up on stage with my entire weird self each day (and listen…it’s going to get pretty weird), and to have some serious fun!"

Mitski's work with Mirabile, a performance artist as well as choreographer, shines through as a central part of the show.

Mitski, too, has studied up on theatre by reading Antonin Artaud—a major French avante-garde artist— Jerzy Grotowski, one of the theorists credited with creating experimental theatre, and former Royal Shakespeare Company Director, Peter Brook.

Songs 'Valentine, Texas' and 'I Bet On Losing Dogs'

The song "Valentine, Texas" featured running upright bass and sparkly percussion. Mitski's band shone on this tune with a mid-way switch up.

Suddenly, the tune's calm, somber nature turned to a full, electric-booming raucous. The song's intense turn was accompanied by pink lights and a spiral shining on Mitski as she sang and danced.

The next song, "I Bet On Losing Dogs," was equally as enthralling. Mitski crawled around on all fours with her tongue out as she sang, "Will you let me, baby, lose / On losing dogs."

Mitski's biggest hit, 'My Love Mine All Mine'

Mitski's biggest hit, "My Love Mine All Mine," was met with applause when the crowd heard the intro.

Shiny mirror fragments dropped from the Ryman's ceiling and reflected onto the stage as red and orange lights washed over Mitski.

Mitski sang, "'Cause my love is mine, all mine / I love mine, mine, mine / Nothing in the world belongs to me / But my love mine, all mine, all mine."

The Encore: 'Nobody' and 'Washing Machine Heart'

Mitski ended her set with songs "Nobody" and "Washing Machine Heart."

Upon entering back to the stage with 2018 hit "Nobody," the crowd shouted lyrics, "My God, I'm so lonely / So I open the window / To hear sounds of people," as pink beams washed over the stage. The dancey tune built momentum, and when the chorus hit, the audience sang alongside Mitski, "Nobody, nobody, nobody."

Mitski ended the night with "Washing Machine Heart" starting on the floor as she pulsed her hands and legs simultaneously. She sang, "Toss your dirty shoes in my washing machine heart," on a blue-lit stage.

After her final song, the crowd gave a standing ovation.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you," Mitski said humbly after bowing to the Nashville crowd.

Tomorrow night, she'll do it all again.

To learn more about Mitski and her Ryman residency, head to mitski.com.

Mitski's Nashville Set List on April 10, 2024

Everyone

Buffalo Replaced

Working for the Knife

The Frost

The Deal

Valentine, Texas

I Bet on Losing Dogs

Thursday Girl

Geyser

I Love Me After You

First Love/Late Spring

Star

Heaven

I Don’t Like My Mind

Happy

My Love Mine All Mine

Last Words of a Shooting Star

Pink in the Night

I’m Your Man

I Don't Smoke

Bug Like an Angel

Love Me More

Fireworks

Encore: Nobody, Washing Machine Heart

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Mitski kicks off four-day Ryman residency in Nashville with theatrical concert