Kimbra | Atlanta, Ga – For the Record

New Zealand singer Kimbra visited Terminal West on February 10th, 2023, to a jampacked crowd. Before entering the stage, the crowd called her name which was donned with two pillars that had cascading greenery. The setup of the stage had a very earthy setup and down-to-earth feel, one that was very different from the Kimbra I knew back in the 2010s with her songs like “Cameo Lover”.

Kimbra started off her set with “Save Me”, a slower song that demands your attention and is striking with its layered vocals. Beginning with a song like this to open the show, it’s clear that Kimbra has grown up in her artistry from the days of “Cameo Lover” and “Settle Down”. Those songs were fun-pop songs, this song, however, was from the heart.

For much of Kimbra’s concert, Kimbra spent time connecting with the audience and explaining her songs and why she wrote them. Something you do not see a lot of artists doing in their concerts. After her song, “Gun”, Kimbra explained that this is her ‘era of reckoning’. (Her latest album is named “A Reckoning.”) She also told the audience that for her, many times her songs will know things about her life before she does, and that’s “divine stuff”.

To watch Kimbra be so involved in her artistry and lyricism while sharing that with the fans was something that I appreciated about the concert. She has been in the business for two decades at this point and is clearly making music for herself. This can be seen in her latest album as well as in her concert.

But that doesn’t mean the old days are completely behind her, Kimbra did a newer rendition of “Settle Down” – a song that came out in 2011, and the crowd went absolutely wild. And for those of us that were watching Kimbra’s music videos back in the 2010s and adoring her charming yet unique dance moves, don’t worry, Kimbra very much still dances Kimra-esque which shows just much her songs mean to her.

Kimbra continued the show with songs from her new album including “Foolish Thinking” (one of my personal favorites from the night), GLT, and ended it with “I Don’t Want To Fight”. A song with slow melodies and vulnerability like I haven’t seen from most artists in concert.

Thankfully, Kimbra returned with an encore, letting us indulge in “Cameo Lover” and finished the night with “Version of Me”. Kimbra ended the night telling us that “we are striving” and after her concert, I left in agreement with that sentiment.