Review: Mykki Blanco at The Rechabite

Mykki Blanco at The Rechabite
w/ Anesu
Friday, February 24, 2023

Mykki Blanco flawlessly encapsulated the resonance and significance of alternative performance art in their Perth Festival show at The Rechabite on Friday. Entering the stage in a cropped shirt and skirt, wig and sari, to ethereal soundscaping, Blanco’s show established itself as emotionally intense and epic within its first few moments, a tone which would carry through their broad and unpredictable set.

Blanco was supported by Boorloo artist Anesu, an incredibly talented emerging performer whose eloquent articulation of themes of identity, and resistance to racism and bigotry, through soulful R&B and rap-based compositions set a high bar for the headlining act. Joined on stage by a fantastic two-piece band, Anesu’s intelligent and emotionally poignant lyrics were complimented with their easy-going stage presence and strong rapport with the crowd. Anesu left no doubt that they are a performer to watch out for in the future.

After Anesu’s cool beats and tempered, yet palpable emotionality, Mykki Blanco’s emergence on stage signalled a dramatic shift in the tone of the night. Blanco’s persona seemed to draw strongly on an unrestrained emotional expression. Their seemingly desperate need to connect with the crowds, whether through proximity on stage or on the dance floor, or through conversation, moments of silence or connected movement and song, was ensnaring.

While it is tempting to describe Blanco’s signature style as erratic, in their often-disorientating movement between spoken word, rap, R&B, beautiful vocalisations, and personal storytelling, that would ultimately be a disservice to the overall cohesiveness of the show, when these disparate elements are taken to collectively represent Blanco’s authentic expression of anxiety, queerness, identity, rage, love and longing. Instead, Blanco’s swift transition between mediums came to feel like movements between states of mind, or states of being, where their rapid changes in tempo, style and energy signalled moments of internal tension or challenge.

Their combination of gentle spoken word poetry, with brash and fast-paced rapping and lyrics, set to constantly changing instrumentals ranging from the sensual to the savage and performed against backdrops of idyllic environments, made it clear that they were not a monodirectional performer. The show was nothing if not a masterpiece of genre blurring, approaching artistic boundaries between mediums and expression with barely concealed contempt, and yet managing quite easily to produce a series of evocative and affecting songs and poems.

A particular highlight was Blanco’s urgent and enraged poetic and lyrical composition Climate Crisis which saw the performer marching across the stage repeating mantras about climate change and political responsibility, before their accompanying DJ, DJ Gentle produced a strong beat to accompany and elevate the beat poem.

In what felt like exclusive moments of artist-driven intimacy, Blanco would signal to DJ Gentle to cease the music or delay the next track to draw out song conclusions, when they felt the need, or to climb over the barrier and into the audience, to feel ‘more connected’ to the crowd. In this way, the show often seemed to rest on Blanco’s whims and present emotional state, which perfectly suited the rawness and honesty of their lyrics and storytelling.

Overall, Mykki Blanco’s Perth Festival set was exceptional. If they hit Perth's stages again in the future, be sure not to miss it.

BEC WELDON

Photos by Marnie Richardson