The room was quiet, as Mitski walked onto the stage at Hollywood High School in Los Angeles. The audience, with silent adoration, were attentive and almost protective of the silence. An equal feeling I encountered on my first listen of Nothing’s About to Happen to Me. An album built around a reclusive woman who treats her home like a kind of sanctuary. A story that Mitski inhabited.
Before that spell fully took hold, opener Haley Heynderickx set matched the night’s intimacy without imitating Mitski’s theatrical scale. Hendrickson came off calm and intentional. Her fingerpicking was stunning. It was precise and warm, unforced as she performed many new songs. A new favorite being, “Pastures.” The inspiration for it comes from swallowing
conversations, holding them like a stone in your chest, felt like a soft thesis statement for modern life. She also played some classics like “The Bug Collector.” Which floated through the halls of the historic auditorium as delicate as a moth. In between songs, she made a cute remark that she was doing this tour partly because it was an excuse to see Mitski five nights in a row. A lovely moment of admiration from the young artist, which Mitski later returned herself.
The stage design for the evening was a reflection of the album’s world. Five band members arranged in a half-moon behind her, with antique furniture flanking the space: an old loveseat, a small table and mirror, each lit by modest lamps, were simple places for Mitski to find respite. It all felt very specific, very intentional. Almost like a home that was curated to look safe, maybe even charming, but still held a kind of unease.
Mitski committed to the performance completely, she clearly considers acting a part of her performance. For long stretches she was stoic, almost severe, holding herself with a contained posture. Not rushing, or over-explaining, she didn’t soften any edges with banter, she was present and intentional. For roughly 35 minutes she barely addressed the audience at all. When she finally spoke, it was brief, introducing the band, and then she slipped right back into character.
Mitski live at Holly Wood High School photo by David Saxum 4/1/2026
The performance itself moved like the album does: sometimes tender and soft, sometimes loud enough to feel like it was pressing on your chest, and sometimes both at once. Mitski used her body to exemplify the music’s feelings. For the panicked anxiety the woman in her story felt, Mitski paced frantically across the stage, restless, unable to find a safe place. At one point, as the music swelled and merged into this echoing, looping, cacophony, she broke into a dance
that looked almost drug-induced or as if it was a nervous break. And then, as suddenly as it started, she collapsed onto the couch, spent.
The show’s visual centerpiece came during “Dead Woman,” one of the album’s most devastating songs. Mitski stood under golden hues of a sunset. Then blues began to sweep up from her feet, rising slowly over her body, swallowing her whole. Throughout the song, she dipped below the “surface,” then bobbed back up, disappearing and reappearing, trying to breathe through a story that kept pulling her back under.
Even the band’s placement, added to that sense of pressure and containment. They played like a controlled storm, swelling when the songs needed chaos, pulling back into a hush when Mitski’s voice needed to be unguarded. It helped drive the story’s architecture.
Despite how immersive the performance was, Mitski did allow one small crack of acknowledgement. At one point she remarked that they were performing in a place that was probably quite traumatizing. Further admitting how it was “a bit cheating” of her to play such emotional music in a venue loaded with its own ghosts. Graciously, she recommended we cry a bit, if we felt the need, and let it out. The audience stayed quiet and attentive, but I could tell that the permission mattered.
It’s clear Mitski is incredibly intentional about her work. She’s committed to herself and her fans with every step of the process, whether that be a conceptual album, or the acting out of the character within it. Every element is carefully practiced to communicate the emotion we all feel but struggle to understand.
Words and Photography by David Saxum
Mitski live at Holly Wood High School photo by David Saxum 4/1/2026
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