Deep cuts with an orchestra: St Vincent at the Royal Albert Hall for BBC Proms

Posted On September 4, 2025September 4, 2025

There are certain gigs that are always destined to be great – like St Vincent, at the Royal Albert Hall, with an orchestra.

While the Proms mostly felt like a realm far from our own, reserved for classical music heads or old people with money to spare, they’ve long since been doing some deeply interesting things. I’d say about once a week I go back and revisit the 2017 Proms night dedicated to Scott Walker’s music, when Jarvis Cocker, John Grant and more celebrated the work of the icon. Last year, I was lucky enough to catch Florence and the Machine at the Proms too, which was another night that was obviously, and inevitably, transcendent as her music lends itself so effortlessly to orchestral arrangements. 

However, with St Vincent’s work, that isn’t quite there. When I think of the work of Annie Clark, I’ve never once thought of a sit-down show in one of the world’s most hallowed and, let’s be honest, serious halls. The Royal Albert Hall isn’t the typical surrounding for a rock show, and on her last album, All Born Screaming, Clark was more of a rockstar than ever with some huge guitar moments and even some interesting electro stuff – none of which easily translates to a spanning orchestra.

But all of it comes down to one man – Jules Buckley. At the Florence show, the Scott Walker show and now this St Vincent special along with countless other interesting and contemporary proms, Buckley has been the man at the conductor stand as his passion for combining new music with classical sounds is obvious, and his desire to make that both accessible and stunning is palpable.

Stunning would be the word as Clark entered the stage awash with a string section. Launching right into ‘We Put A Pearl In The Ground’, a track from her debut that she’s never played live before, my eyes locked on some audience members.

I found myself watching one patch of fans stood right at the front. The setting of the Royal Albert Hall demands a different kind of etiquette. The people on the floor were largely still, the people in the chairs tapped their toes and clapped at the end of the song. But occasionally, you’d spot a fan itching to break out of that. As the setlist began to unveil deep cut after deep cut, with Clark playing tracks like ‘Black Rainbow’ for the first time since 2014, or ‘Paris Is Burning’ for the first time since 2011, the team behind the show had clearly considered which songs would work best, regardless of hits or what era Clark might be in, and the fans in the room who had been around since the beginning struggled to maintain composure at the thrill of it all, not only seeing these songs live on a rare occasion, but seeing them in such a magnificent form.

The most interesting moments, though, came when there was clearly some tension. As I was heading to the hall, my main curiosity was about how they’d maintain Clark’s guitar playing amongst it all, hoping for some moments where she was playing all out alongside an orchestra going crazy too, dreaming of hearing something like the crescendo of ‘Flea’ against a full string section and horns. That was sadly missed off the setlist, but there were moments. The excitement in the room definitely peaked each time Clark was handed a guitar, like when she began to play through ‘Marrow’, turning it into a tense and cinematic Bond theme with the help of the orchestra.

But, if there was one fault in an obviously flawless night of music made by the very best in two vastly different realms, it was that it wasn’t loud enough. I wanted more heavy moments, more guitars or more space for Clark’s rock amongst the orchestra’s lushness. Sitting through the gorgeous emotions of the slower songs made even more beautiful by the arrangement and accompaniment was a treat, but as the fans itched to move, shyly fist pumping during ‘Digital Witness’, I think they would all agree that it perhaps lacked one moment to break free of the occasion and the setting, and make the hallowed ground shake.

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