Last Friday, St. Vincent treated a sold out crowd a Castaways to one of the most straight-up badass shows Ithaca has seen in a while. With her albums being largely soft-spoken and intricate, I was completely floored by the energy and wildness that she brought to the stage. She had the audience wrapped around ehr little finger for the whole show, and everyone loved it.

The night started off with upstate band The Red Lions, who kicked the show off right with what the Times Union calls "chamber music for the 21st century". With a keyboardist and violinist joining the regular lineup, the sound filled Castaways to the brim, and the crowd ate it up. Both melodic and energetic, it was the perfect appetizer to the main course.

And what a main course it was! Alternating between heartrendingly beautiful vocals and face-meltingly awesome shreds, Annie Clark was a tornado of sound. Starting off the set with "The Strangers", it was apparent to everyone in the room that Annie and the band were psyched to be there. Taking a one-off from their current tour with Andrew Bird, the band seemed thrilled to be playing to a crowd who loved seeing their music as much as they liked playing it.

Playing tracks from her two amazing albums, Actor and Marry Me, Annie owned the stage. Her delicate, almost fragile voice made a great foil to the Vicious-esque guitar freak-outs, and her insistence that Ithaca was "the best show we've played on this tour" was reinforced by the two songs that she tacked on to the end of the setlist, and her twitter-raves about Ithaca the day after the show. Here's hoping we see her again soon!