Show Review: St Vincent & The San Francisco Symphony with Arooj Aftab at Davies Symphony Hall, 7/30/26

St Vincent released Live In London earlier this year, a recording of a live show performed with a symphony orchestra. Normally, I’d do extensive research before a show, including listening to the record numerous times. I opted against that this time, and instead decided I wanted to be surprised. This was the right choice.

Pakistani singer Arooj Aftab opened the show. Accompanied only by a guitarist, her stunning voice filled the room and left the audience in stunned silence. It was amazing and very respectful. Too often, I encounter audiences that decide their conversations are more important than the performance, and it was refreshing to experience otherwise. Even more impressive since the majority of her set seemed to be in Urdu. 

The first half or so of St Vincent’s set wasn’t too surprising… She leaned heavily on album tracks that already had fairly lush arrangements, focusing heavily on All Born Screaming and Marry Me material. She brought her regular band with her, and largely steered clear of her guitar, letting her voice dance along the orchestra. When she did pull out her guitar, it was mixed so it wouldn’t overpower the orchestra and acted as part of the ensemble, as opposed to the lead instrument when she would do her typical “rock” shows. In typical St Vincent fashion, every move was carefully choreographed and precise. 

The show good. But it all felt a little too, well, stuffy in the first half. Then she pulled out her sole nod to her breakout self-titled record, the horn-heavy groover “Digital Witness.” She opened the song by spanking conductor Jules Buckley. Throughout the song, she’d spend her time walking around the orchestra, taunting various musicians throughout the song, eventually opening her jacket to reveal her bra to unsuspecting SF Symphony members. Seriousness was out the window, and the second half was a rolicking, silly adventure. 

Clark would tell jokes. The audience would actually dance. We clapped along to “New York.” She climbed into the audience. She pratfalled in fake exhaustion when she complained that we weren’t giving enough energy. We even got some ninja kicks in the aisles. It became a full-on rock show, only with a LOT of members of the band. The show moved from merely excellent to a profound, epic live music experience. Then, she closed with the gorgeous “Slow Disco,” leaving the entire room with their hearts full and into the cool SF Summer night.