On October 14th, at Cornerstone in Berkeley, Caroline Kingsbury and MARIS performed the penultimate show of “Give Me a Tour.” Doors opened at six, and we were the openers! Karaoke went until seven, with MARIS as the surprise last guest, rapping the first half of Nicki Minaj’s “Superbass.”
The show began with a bit featuring a pitched-down voice speaking over the famous theme from 2001: A Space Odyssey, introducing “a lesbian alien and a bisexual astronaut” who came together to harness their sapphic heartbreak and create the glam pop show of their dreams! As dual headliners, the two artists creatively strung together their sets, switching off every four songs or so with fun skits featuring props in between.
This was the first time I’ve seen Caroline Kingsbury as a co-headliner rather than an opener on another artist’s tour, and I was pumped to get to hear so much more of her music, especially her latest EP, Shock Treatment, live. I learned about MARIS through her and Kingsbury’s powerful duet “Give Me a Sign,” which inspired the “Give Me a Tour” theme.
There were a variety of highlights from Kingsbury’s sets. “Chocolate” is my newest favorite of hers, which includes the heartbreaking but romantic lyric, “If this is so wrong, I wanna fall from grace for you.” It was so special to see Kingsbury perform an older single of hers that I’ve never seen her do live before: “Strawberry Sheets.” She prefaced it with, “You know, I didn’t really know what lesbian sex was ‘til I was an adult, and if I had known sooner, it would’ve saved me a lot of awkwardness… so, that’s my PSA. There’s also just something that’s very special about being with a woman, and that’s what this next song is about.”
I loved Kingsbury’s look: a loud, colorful outfit including a shiny patchwork leotard, the coolest tights I’ve ever seen, her big blonde mullet, and her signature teal blue eye makeup matching her wide belt.
Her moving ballad “Pain and Pleasure,” written about grieving her late brother, was beautiful, with the touching final lyrics, “When the stars come out, I’ll think of you.” Afterward, she brought the energy right back up, following with “Shock Treatment,” which was electrifying to experience live. As usual for a Caroline Kingsbury show, the final song in her setlist was the song “that changed her life,” as she put it, “Kissing Someone Else,” which has become one of my favorite songs of all time. The song features gorgeous 80s synthesizers, a driving bassline, and the compelling lyrics, “I can feel your heartbeat while you’re kissing someone else.” The best part of the song is the stripped-down bridge with only the bass and her vocals. All followed by the beat dropping back in for the final chorus, where here, the audience sang along in unison.
MARIS has an intoxicating, exhilarating stage presence. In addition to her high-spirited command of the stage, what else stood out to me was MARIS’s incredible vocal talent she showed off throughout the show. During “Heavenly Bodies,” MARIS sang vocal riffs, pretending to shred the phrases on her mini inflatable guitar, going back and forth with the guitarist who mimicked her vocals using his real instrument. MARIS playfully dragged her little orange guitar down the guitarist’s face and chest, grabbed his chin and kissed him, turned back to the audience, ripped open the blow-up guitar with her teeth, then proceeded to impressively belt the rest of her song.
Following that amazing bisexual chaos, MARIS removed her astronaut jumpsuit to reveal another outfit underneath, which was the second of four fantastic outfits she donned through the night, and immediately sang her unreleased song “Jessica.” Before “Super F***ing Mega Star,” MARIS asked the seemingly shy Berkeley crowd to make a dance pit, encouraging “brave superstars who wanna come shake some ass” to dance in the middle. After an initial slight hesitation, many people ended up joining in: some hopped around, some twerked, couples twirled, even a pair of swing dancers showed off their skills. Then, MARIS ran in for the last chorus, where a couple dozen people danced with her, closing it out! It was a delightful scene of queer joy.
Of course, Caroline Kingsbury and MARIS ended the concert by performing their outstanding song, “Give Me a Sign.” This show included out-of-this-world costuming, lighting, and energy, from both the musicians and the audience. Cornerstone was a perfect venue to see these artists perform in. I love these two powerful queer voices, and I strongly recommend listening to their discographies. Seeing this show was such a treat, and I hope to see either or both of these up-and-coming glam pop stars live in the Bay Area again soon!
Review by Serena McIntosh
