What a way to start 2025 right with a St. Vincent concert in Manila in January.
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Annie Clark, who you probably know better from her stage name St. Vincent, has yet to step foot in the Philippines. But if you ask the musician her thoughts on the country and Filipino fans, she’ll yap her heart out with appreciation. Recalling a concert she held in Singapore years ago, Annie marveled at the dedication she saw from her Filipino fans. “Ages ago, I played a solo show in Singapore. And I was amazed by the amount of people who got on an airplane and came to Singapore from the Philippines to see me,” she tells NYLON Manila.
Since then, Annie has gotten better at what she does and her Filipino fans have been waiting with bated breath for the chance to see her live. Those two moments will be colliding this 2025 as she holds her first-ever concert in the Philippines when she takes her All Born Screaming Tour to The Filinvest Tent on January 8.
Thanks to Karpos, who will be bringing the Grammy-winning artist to the Philippines, fans get to experience her latest acclaimed studio album live, as well as a collection of her fan-favorite hits. It’s an energy St. Vincent can’t wait to share in Manila. “I’m so excited, and I really mean that because I, one, I’ve always wanted to go to the Philippines. And two, I’ve been aware, ever since probably my first or second record, that people in the Philippines were listening, which is so astounding to me,” she gushes.
Read our full interview with St. Vincent below as she opens up about performing in the Philippines, traveling the world, and more.
This January, you’re coming to Manila for the All Born Screaming Tour. How do you feel bringing the show to the country?
I’m so excited, and I really mean that because I, one, I’ve always wanted to go to the Philippines. And two, I’ve been aware, ever since probably my first or second record, that people in the Philippines were listening, which is so astounding to me. Ages ago, I played a solo show in Singapore. And I was amazed by the amount of people who got on an airplane and came to Singapore from the Philippines to see me play a solo show in Singapore. So I never take it for granted when people, especially in not English as a first language countries, are fans of what I do. I’m just really, really honored.
So as this will be your first time in Manila, are there other things you’re looking forward to doing, aside from the show?
Well, I mean, I’ll say the kind of obvious things, which would be like, meet people and eat food, you know? I mean, that’s like kind of the best case scenario.
Whenever you get to travel to a new city or a new country, do you have an itinerary set, or is there something you want to do while you’re still there?
You know who is so good at making sure that he sees something interesting every single time he goes to a new place is David Byrne. And I feel like David Byrne also has a connection to the Philippines, and that he wrote an entire musical on the Marcoses and the bloodless coup, which still boggles my mind. It’s still so amazing to me that the power of the people was able to go, ‘we’re not not going to be violent, but we are going to put our foot down.’
Anyways, I think I just sort of walk around and find what I stumble into, and get to see, you know, just a slice of life and wherever I am. I’m a little bit more like that when I travel. But David always had such a good, he had a destination in every single city of like okay, we’re going to this museum or going to see this odd thing that doesn’t exist anywhere. Actually, you know what? I’ll hit him up about Manila.
INSTAGRAM/ST_VINCENT/ PHOTO BY CAPTIQUE
In your opinion, what do you think is the best part about getting to travel the world to do what you love to do?
There are so many great parts about it that I would hesitate to even name just one, but I will say that we’re in a world that is made in some ways increasingly small by the internet. You know, there’s a feeling that we could be connected to people anywhere around the world and connected by our mutual interests or whatever. But I think there’s nothing like actually seeing the world and traveling the world to make you feel not just intellectually, but really feel how connected we are as a human species.
Human beings are endlessly fascinating. Culture is endlessly fascinating. How did we become who we are? Why does something mean one thing in this culture, and in a totally different thing in another culture? What connects us? What is essential, and then what is eternally strange about us? So I think just that, that feeling of actually really being connected to, to everyone on the planet, yeah, is that’s the thing that gets me.
All Born Screaming was quite a personal album for you, but it resonated with a lot of people over the world. As the artist and creative behind it, how does it make you feel to see that this album and your work in general has resonated with people from different countries?
I think it makes me feel, it makes me feel so grateful. It makes me feel very lucky, because I’m not sure. I don’t know what it is about what I do that resonates with people in certain cultures, honestly, more than others, you know, it just does. Whatever I make seems to resonate, like, for example, in the Philippines, maybe even more than it does in like Paris, you know? And so you go, ‘Okay, why is that? Why is that?’ I really don’t have the answer. I mean, you might have a better grasp of it than I do, but I think more than anything, it just makes me so grateful. It makes me feel less alone.
INSTAGRAM/ST_VINCENT/ PHOTO BY CAPTIQUE
What can Filipino fans expect from the show? What vibe or experience should they watch out for?
You know, I think we’re always, in our own ways, just trying to claw toward something that feels like freedom. And for me, the show, I’m always just trying to get to something that feels like freedom, freedom from the day to day, freedom from pain, even if freedom from pain means, you know, looking at pain right in the face. It’s like, just, how do we get to the thing that feels like our humanity is most connected to other people.
So in the instance of this show, I think it’s like, it’s on one hand, kind of a rock pummeling, a bludgeoning, as it were. And then there are other moments that are very tender and very forgiving, and then other moments that are like, okay, let’s have an ecstatic dance party. You know, let’s dance like it’s the end of the world. So, yeah, try to put all those things in one show in 90 minutes and call it a day.
What message do you have for your Filipino fans who are eagerly waiting for you next year?
Just honestly thank you. Thank you for listening. Thank you for paying attention. Thank you for having a heart. Thank you for being receptive to what I do, and as a result, allowing me to come to your country and allowing me the freedom to get to go there and experience all of you all.
St. Vincent’s All Born Screaming Tour heads to Manila this January 8, 2025, at The Filinvest Tent. You can get your tickets now here.
Continue Reading: All The Concerts, Live Shows, Fanmeets and More Coming To The Philippines This 2024
