Though she had to change her name because of a lawsuit this past year, Santigold (perhaps because of this) was certainly serious about representing the “gold” part of her moniker last night at her sold-out Terminal 5 show. Gold lamé jacket and pants, gold eye adornment, gold doorknocker earrings, metallic shine on even her eternally Wayfarer-sporting, stone-faced back-up singers, gold fezes and gold accents on the band’s outfits. “The pockets were Velcro until they changed them to match my outfit,” she explained.
To anyone with a penchant for her collaborators Diplo and Switch, the sound of clopping hooves at the start of the set that prefaced a surf-happy beat immediately signaled Major Lazer’s “Hold the Line,” a track from the producer super-duo that features Santigold. After a bit of the chorus she was off into “You’ll Find a Way” and “L.E.S. Artistes” from her (originally) self-titled 2008 debut, “Santogold.”
Opening for Santi were Trouble Andrew and Amanda Blank, both of whom made appearances during her set along with Blank and ‘gold’s fellow Illadelphian, Spankrock, for his verse on “Shove It.”
In a short flapper jumpsuit, Blank shimmied into her memorable homage to LL Cool J’s “I Need Love” from “Top Ranking,” Santi’s mixtape with Diplo.
Taking advantage of her backing band, Santi offered a cover of The Cure’s “Killing an Arab,” a track that meshes well with her New Wavey vibe in the same way the B-52s’ “Mesopotamia” did last summer on the mixtape.
“Read it in English if you don’t speak French,” Santi offered, alluding to Albert Camus’ The Stranger, inspiration for The Cure’s original song. “It’s a great book!”
Audience participation was greatest on the catchy, syllable-bolding “Unstoppable” and “Creator,” where the willing created their own little routines on stage.
“This is the show we were looking forward to most on the whole tour,” said Santi, before obliging with an encore of the blue, downbeat “Starstruck.” It was all a ruse. Amanda Blank and Spankrock sent everyone home with some bootay-popping in a “You ain’t got no alibi” style.
