Allie X at The Independent

by Norm deVeyra

“Oh, what a shame. It’s clear to see. You’ve been so dumb sleeping on me” – Allie X

It had been a minute, but the wait was worth it as Canadian alt-pop provocateur Allie X, aka Alexandra Hughes, came to San Francisco and delivered a stellar show last week at The Independent.

Sporting black shades, a white wedding dress and head piece paired with a black corset and leggings, the ever cool performer entered the stage to the angular opening beats of “Hardware Software” from her latest record Girl With No Face setting the atmospheric and cinematic tone to kick off the show.

The stage design was minimal with lighting doing the heavy lifting to accentuate Allie X’s goth, dance aesthetic casting deep shadows and bursting flashes of light. Hughes performed centerstage framed by weblike red ropes as a guitarist and keyboardist stood at her side.

“I’m your bitch, you’re my bitch.” purred Hughes. “BOOM BOOM!” the crowd responded back. during “Bitch”, from 2015’s Collxtion I. By the opening synths and beats of the next song “Black Eye” folks had one hundred percent bought in.

A beautiful “Susie Save Your Love”, from 2020’s Cape God, came midway through the set while the dancey “Super Duper Party People” kept the party going during the back half. But the highlights of the night were definitely GWNF standouts “Galina” and “Girl With No Face”.

Hughes sounded strong, confident, and fully in control as emcee to the hottest dance party on Divisadero that night.

Much of the pop music conversation lately has been centered on the upstarts and brats, but there’s space to celebrate another performer who’s also been honing their craft and sound for the better part of a decade plus and is now producing, perhaps, their best and most interesting work. Witnessing this tour and hearing Girl With No Face live, there’s no doubt in my mind that it’s time we stopped being so dumb and stopped sleeping on Allie X.

The SF show preceded two sold-out nights in Los Angeles to cap off the Girl With No Face Tour.

Setlist San Francisco 06.21.24