Annie DiRusso ‘s set was for college students by a recent graduate. Her music captured the college experience with songs about going home after you left, and a one-night stand.
I have always thought there wasn’t enough media content on that transitional time of life. So, hearing music about that experience at Lollapalooza was kind of refreshing.
I know that there are a lot of freshman college students who could use that reminder that it’s not just them. That lots of people have those first moments of adulting or even have those university experiments (ok experiences!)
However, Annie DiRusso’s performance came across a bit like a Senior Project/showcase. Her story times were less conversation and more presentation-like. Before or after the song she would almost give a speech on what the music was about instead of letting the art speak for itself. I wanted her to get more unfiltered and have less prepped stories! I really wanted to get to know her as an artist, not some business presentation person.
Her music was fun, easy to jam to. The lyrics were creative and downright relatable. The soft indie rock allowed her to really show off her vocals.
Annie DiRusso Takes on the BMI Stage
She rocked her 3:20 time slot at the BMI stage on Friday August 4. BMI is one of the smaller stages and coolest at Lollapalooza. It is the closest stage to the lake and the area has lots of trees for shade! It is also notorious for being the up-and-coming stage.
With that said, the stage is pretty simple, no extra screens, just the one background screen. Which for Annie DiRusso stayed simple with just a picture of her bedroom and her name.
After the festival, I looked up her website, which, by the way, is so cool! She has a very interactive part of the site where it is her bedroom, and you can click on items that will give you different information about the artist. My favorite was the journal that you could flip through, and it was the lyrics to her songs! Once I saw the site it clicked how important that image of her room is to her as an artist.
I am looking forward to following her artistic journey and seeing what music she might write now that she is out of the university bubble and in “the real world.”
She is not currently actively touring and is focusing on creating new music. The only date listed on her site is a set in Olympia, Washington for the South Sound Block Party on August 25 & 26.
