Lindsey Jordan thinks the chickens running free in Ybor City are crazy. But they're not the wildest things about her trips to Tampa.
“I have a Tampa horror story from the other time we played here,” the 23-year-old songwriter said, referencing a 2018 gig before admitting that Snail Mail's local debut was actually a lot of fun.
Jordan went on to explain how Snail Mail played Orlando the day before. She went to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter by herself, but the band’s really shitty, old van ended up breaking down, so she had to leave it with a sketchy mechanic and rent a car to get to Tampa. Then, in the middle of Snail Mail’s set opening for Japanese Breakfast, Jordan explained, “somebody’s car hit a pole and knocked the power out of our set.”
That show was at Crowbar, just one block away from where Jordan played a headlining set on Wednesday. And the funny thing was that as last night’s show started, the lights in much of Ybor City were out yet again.
This time, microbursts of extreme weather—which toppled street signs and lights, ripped a roof off a home and postponed a concert at Crowbar itself—were to blame.
Still, at The Ritz, about 1,000 people showed up ready to figuratively dance, or at least sway, in the dark. Jordan, a force of nature herself, was ready to make it happen.
Backed by a four-piece band, plus an array of Fender guitars including one gorgeous Fiesta Red Jazzmaster with three MP-90 pickups, Jordan worked effortlessly through a 16-song set that got a little grungy (“Glory”) and even paid tribute to The Smashing Pumpkins with a cover of “Tonight, Tonight” (a nice touch, as the Pumpkins played the very same room in ‘92 as part of the band’s tour supporting Gish).
Jordan is a magnetic figure who’s been tapped by Gucci for campaigns and runway shows, and by directors to star in films. Onstage, she captures the attention of the room with her command of the guitar and easy stage presence. She brought that energy to Ybor City on Wednesday, but there were a few moments where her voice got lost behind the boom of Ray Brown’s big kick drum.
The mix started to come around during an acoustic-driven run through “Forever (Sailing),” but in so many ways you don’t always need to hear what Jordan is saying to understand the feelings she’s trying to convey (case in point: “Golden Dream,” where the moans and malaise more or less capture the regret after a long night of drinking and facepalm-worthy conversation).
And when you did pick up on what Jordan was saying, the songs landed harder than all the heartbreak weaved into the six-part collection of EPs and full-lengths she’s built over the last seven years. Sans guitar, but with a White Claw in hand, she stalked the stage and kneeled in front of the crowd during “Madonna,” before bringing all the melancholy of Morrissey to a rousing run through “Thinning.” On “Benjamin Franklin,” Jordan played free and loose, but she saved her best for a solo acoustic read on “Mia,” the closer from her 2021 album Valentine.
Instead of the strings from the studio version, guitarist Ben Kaunitz delivered a quiet wash of guitar as backup, adding another layer of emotion to an already loaded song about saying so long to a lover although you don’t want to. The song is a tear jerker, and there were probably a few sets of wet eyes in the crowd that was all in all happy to see Snail Mail after the band had to postpone its Tampa date to accommodate Jordan’s vocal cord surgery.
Jordan, who’s pretty straight forward in her stage banter ("I don't really fuck with an encore that much,” she explained before set-closer “Pristine”), thanked the crowd for waiting.
“God bless a little reschedule,” Jordan said at one point before invoking big dad joke energy in adding, “You never know what's going to happen."
But in the case of Snail Mail—which is coming back to Tampa Bay this fall to open for Turnstile—one thing is always given: Jordan, a true force in indie-rock, is always going to be lights out.
Setlist
Heat Wave
Speaking Terms
Headlock
Glory
Madonna
Golden Dream
Thinning
Automate
Ben Franklin
Full Control
Tonight, Tonight (Smashing Pumpkins)
Forever (Sailing)
Mia
Adore U
Valentine
Pristine