Santigold

In real life, Santi White is a 39-year-old mother who lives in a Brooklyn townhome with her snowboarder/musician husband and 2-year-old son. She prefers comfort to fashion, but loves shopping the latest styles for her toddler. To the rest of the world, she is Santigold – a star of the underground who is oblivious to the lines that separate dub, reggae, hip-hop, and pop. As Santigold, White is willing to forego comfort in pursuit of maximum appeal. Rocking a bright yellow mini dress, and backed by her SG1 dancers, the artist sold herself to the capacity crowd at the Ogden Theatre last night. While various consumer products were advertised on the big screen behind her, and the words WE BUY GOLD were emblazoned on the front of her dress, the message came through loud and clear. There was no room for misinterpretation. The cover of her latest album, 99¢, depicts Santigold as nothing more than a product, shrink-wrapped with other crap from the bargain bin at your local Walmart. The We Buy Gold Tour, which kicked off in Houston a few nights ago, expands on that theme of over-consumption and the (lack of) value placed on music in today’s culture of subscription-based streaming. The recurring 99¢ imagery is surely in reference to the price of a single song on iTunes, but as Vince Staples was happy to point out while performing in the Spotify House at SXSW last week, a song is literally worth a fraction of a cent these days. - See more at: http://ilistensoyoudonthaveto.com/2016/03/25/santigold-ogden-theatre-03-24-16/#sthash.nMMDTV4H.dpuf

Whether you know her as ‘Santogold’ or ‘Santigold,’ it doesn’t really matter because she’s an artist to check out.
From the moment I saw her rock probably one of the tinier stages she’s at in the Apple store in New York City, I knew that Santigold is more than just an interesting name. Dressed casually in jeans, an oversized purple sweater and sneakers, she walked calmly on the stage. However once the music started to play, it’s as if she was electrocuted with a spark of energy that caused her to bounce around onstage -- inspiring everyone to get on their feet. While it’s not hard to start moving to her hip-hop meets electronic meets alternative reggae sounds, her delivery enhanced the beats that were blasting through the speakers. All of a sudden, you forgot you’re at the Apple store but in a club instead.
And although that was years ago when Santigold was still known as Santogold, it was performances like this one that solidified songs like ‘Creator’ and ‘L.E.S. Artists’ as dance classics. Now with her self-titled debut and 2012’s ‘Master of My Make-Believe’ under her belt, she is still out there churning out tracks that will get your hips moving like the more recently, ‘Girls,’ which the HBO hipster girl show quickly picked up. So if you haven’t experienced a Santogold show, you should definitely give it a try.

Santogold brings an eclectic mix of styles to her music and performance. Santogold uses electronica, dub, reggae, new wave, and synth pop in equal parts to create her own unique genre of music. When I first saw Santogold, she was touring with Red Hot Chili Peppers and I did not know what to expect from this unknown opening performance. She was AMAZING!!!! Her dancers were coordinated and performed incredibly unique and fun routines. There were a few wardrobe changes and at one point they came out dressed as a life sized horse! Santogold herself possesses a powerful voice which captivated me from the start. I couldn't believe this performance wasn't the main act!! I had such a blast dancing and clapping along and bought her album the very next day. Santogold has a reputation of touring with a wide range of artists including M.I.A., Bjork, Coldplay, Jay-Z, Kanye West, and Beastie Boys. If you don't have the opportunity to catch her on one of her solo shows, I highly recommend you try to catch her as an opener. I assure you, she doesn't hold back or sacrifice anything in her performance. While Songkick lists her name as "Santogold", it should also be noted that she currently goes by Santigold due to a law suit in 2009.

Santigold and Theophilus London at 9:30 Club on June 18, 2012
The opener was Theophilus London, who is an alt-rap darling of the indie scene. I get that he is pushing the normal boundaries of rap, but not enough to make it compelling to me. I could see why some people like him, even though I didn't.
Santigold was AMAZING live. That woman knows how to put on a good show. It goes without saying that she is an excellent singer, but she also hired a couple dancing girls who kicked ass. They went non-stop, the whole show. There was also something so appropriate about the choreography, so fitting to Santigold's music and messaging. Even the costuming had that same "What you looking at?" vibe to it. Ridiculous, but not trying to make you laugh - more like they were making a point about stereotypes, but without hitting you over the head with it. The show was also fun - they brought a bunch of audience members onto the stage to dance with them, and I think there was an audience participation song, but I'm a little fuzzy on that. Verdict: Santigold is a must-see.

Absent. I didn’t get to see Santigold because Lauryn Hill took her off the bill and NO ANNOUNCEMENT was made. After driving 10 hours, sitting through 3 hours of musical garbage that was the “openers,” Lauryn Hill FINALLY came out. I was confused so I started googling. Come to find out, via an obscure twitter exchange between santigold and a fan, I realized Santigold had been canceled from the show by Lauryn Hill. Needless to say I was more than annoyed. Lauryn Hill was boring and her songs drone on, mostly just repeating 3-5 words over and over. I’m not sure who is responsible in this situation, but someone should have made more of an effort to inform fans that the show they booked was no longer the show they were going to get. Had I known Santigold was canceled, I would not have gone to this show. It was a waste of my time, money, energy, etc. I’m very disappointed in the whole experience. I don’t blame Santigold because I’ve recently learned how erratic, unreliable, and difficult to work with Lauryn Hill can be.

Truly excellent show! Every song was performed fantastically and sounded great, along with the live backup musicians and dancers. Costume changes and video backdrop added to each song and the overall production value. Really a great show with tons of energy! Highly recommend!

Started alittle too late, but OMG I LOVE HER AND HER DANCERS! She ROCKS!!!!! 2nd time I've seen her and she is amazing! There was definitely some people that had too much to drink and ran into us but they were kicked out. Their lost because the show didn't even start yet.

Santigold SLAYED! She never disappoints, with her perfect back up dancers and show routine and eclectic grouping across her career. Santigold is one for the books. She really lets you know what a show is all about. 5 stars. I couldn't stop dancing.