Safe Spaces at the Liza Anne Show
Written and photographed by Emily Richardson
Graphic by Emily Lantzy
On October 9th, I had the opportunity to witness Liza Anne perform her opening set for Lucy Dacus’ headline tour at Headliner’s Music Hall in Louisville. Anne entered the stage resembling a rockstar princess, wearing a bright green sheer dress and combat boots. She later posted about her dress on Instagram, saying that it “does all the right things in making me feel like i can do anything! sing any note! leave any toxicity! set myself free! etc.”
She took the stage with a whole lot of energy and a powerful performance of “Paranoia,” and let me just tell you, I didn’t think the vocals in this song could get any better, but they are even more powerful in person. I could feel my heart pounding in my chest and the energy running through my veins from this performance. After finishing “Small Talks,” which hyped everyone up even more, she addressed the crowd and thanked them for coming early to watch her set, saying that they were “very attentive” and that she felt very safe.
She then transitioned into one of her most vulnerable songs, “Panic Attack.” Anne explained how this song is about anxiety and the way it makes her feel. She also opened up to the crowd by telling them that she has panic disorder, and followed this up by saying that this is a very interesting job for her to have, since she is standing on stage in front of tons of people rather than being in bed. She said that it can sometimes be hard to even get out of bed and come outside, so she thanked the crowd for being brave and coming outside and proceeded to say “This is a song about being brave.” I had the chance to chat with Anne after the show, and I thanked her for this song and let her know that it has helped me a lot in my personal battle with anxiety. She was very honored and said that the song is pretty hard to perform because it takes her back to how she was feeling when she wrote it, but hearing how much it helps people makes it all worth it.
She led into her hit song “Closest To Me” by explaining how we can be mean to people we love a lot when we feel safe enough to show them all of our sides. Her eerie vocals in this song sent shivers through me. “Turn For The Worse” was one of my favorite performances of the night. She explained how this song was about conversations that you shouldn’t have when you are drunk or tired. Towards the end of the song, Anne and her two band members did a few minute-long instrumental and it completely covered my body in chills. There was a moment where I just stood there in awe and was reminded why I love live music so much. Anne played other hit songs such as “I Love You, But I Need Another Year” and even performed an unreleased song titled “Desire,” which she said will be released next year. She stated at the beginning of the night that she would be playing a variety of songs from her album Fine But Dying as well as some unreleased songs, because at the end of the day, she is doing this so that we can feel better and so that she can then feel better. She finished out the night with her newest release, entitled “Devotion,” which she said was about doing all the things you need to do to take care of yourself. She encouraged the audience to “Be your own relationship and don’t stay with people who make you small.” She said it was a song about self care and self love, she encouraged fans to “Take care of yourself, take a bath, set yourself free.”
After the show, Anne hung out by the merch booth and met with fans. I waved to her and she was extremely welcoming, asking my name and shaking my hand. We talked about everything from anxiety, to her performance, to how I first saw her at Paramore’s “Art + Friends” in Nashville last year and how excited I was when I saw she was coming to Louisville. We talked about Paramore and how good of people they are; she said that “They are all muses, every one of them.”
Liza Anne is so talented and deserves way more recognition than she receives. She played the guitar throughout her whole set as well as singing, and you could just tell that she gave the performance everything she had in her. If you ever get the chance to see Liza Anne perform live, make sure you do it!