Samia’s Energetic Serenade to the Paradise Rock Club
By Karenna Umscheid
Shortly after the clock struck 8 o’clock, Samia’s opening act Annie DiRusso took the stage. Her and her band, all adorned in matching dresses, filled the room with electrifying guitar, and poignant and powerful lyrics delivered with blissful vocals. DiRusso told the crowd that Samia’s performance the night before left her shaking and sobbing, before singing some sad songs of her own. As she started “I Think We’re Alone Now,” a voice in the crowd loudly sang along, to which she turned her head and smiled. At the end of the set, she and her band collapsed in unison, as the lights turned to black and the music stopped.
Samia’s band entered the stage first, strumming the beginning instrumentals to “Pool.” The lights turned a sunny yellow as Samia walked onstage, smiling and waving excitedly. Adorned in a Zebra print matching set, with blue highlights in her hair, she strode to the microphone and began the song. Stunned by the size and energy of the crowd, Samia thanked the crowd for showing up, and asked “Did my mom ask you guys to be here?”.
To her more upbeat songs, Samia danced back and forth on the stage waving her arms back and forth, up and down. During “Fit N Full” she faced her drummer and danced, she shook her hands in the air, she spun in circles in ballerina-style. The lights glimmered between yellows, greens, blues, and purples, shrouding her across the stage. They became white and angelic as she sang “Garden of Eden.” She sang gorgeously in the middle of the stage for slower tunes, packed with the same passion as her upbeat hits.
An audience member near the front handed her a card sealed in an envelope, to which she said “I’m gonna read this later in secrecy!”. Another person handed her a mini knitted toy pig, which she set lovingly on the stage. Her moments with the crowd only further demonstrated her humility and joy. She smiled and laughed at a poster that just said “I love you.”
In a moment that I’m affectionately naming the “forever young interlude,” Samia briefly exited the stage, and her band stood together and sang a shortened cover of the Alphaville song “Forever Young.” The crowd turned on their iPhone flashlights, waved their arms and sang along.
Samia closed her show with “Is There Something in the Movies?” but returned for an encore, along with opener Annie DiRusso. Samia complimented Annie’s glow-in-the-dark eyeshadow look, and then they sang “Show Up.” With thunderous applause, Samia exited the stage and the crowd buzzed with adrenaline long after the show’s end.